The Beauty's Beast
by The Lonely Dragon
Summary: This is a different take on the beauty and the beast story. Especially since the gender rolls are switched up but really its an orginal story. Bear in mind it is set up as though it will become a manga or anime. Enjoy. chapter V up.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue:**

Tony opened the left door while Edmond opened the right. Both men glued their eyes to the three figures that entered. Tony had been with the mob for years and he had never seen anyone dressed in the get ups of these three females. It made him very suspicious of them. He did not scare easy yet something made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. The look on Edmond's face gave the same impression.

The two women & the young girl stopped in the center of the room as directed. Behind them the doors were shut by their guards. Meanwhile the Don poked his head up over the top of his laptop.

Their leader wore a poncho with a hood. It draped down past her hips, covering her arms and hands completely as well. The cloth looking brown hood came up covering most of her face. She titled her head forward a bit, projecting a shadow over the rest of her face. It only proved to make her all the creepier.

Her two body guards consisted of a tall read haired woman & a girl that had to be no more than twelve or thirteen. Neither looked like trained assassins.

The red head had long shiny, well taken care of hair. She was thin & very well curved. Her figure was one most men only dreamed of ever seeing. The tight red suit only made her that much more appealing. Around her neck were several long braided leather necklaces. She told all the guards on her way in that they were made of human flesh just for fun.

The little girl however appeared no more innocent than a new born baby. An aura around her made her seem no more threatening than a flower. Tony knew though that even some flowers could kill though.

She didn't have the look of a high price killer. Though perhaps that was what made her so lethal. She had green hair. It was pulled back into what looked like a bun that had popped open, as if like a budding flower. This was all held in by a silver metal disc. There were cuts in the disc so that it too looked like a flower.

Tony knew they were unarmed. They had been searched several times on the way up. Any hit man or mercenary the Don hired had to go through hundreds of different searches. Most of the men figured it was over kill. Often the hired person would be frisked multiple times. Full body searches were common as well. Throughout the building were several if not hundreds of hidden metal detectors, infrared scanners, heat sensors, X-ray machines, and just about any other device that may alert the sentries to anything that could be used as a weapon.

These girls had their guns taken before they even got in the building. It was not long until they relinquished a variety of knives and blades as well. By the time they had reached the Don's room the only metal at all was the girl's silver flower hair piece. Even with that knowledge, Tony still felt uneasy about the trio. Around the room the other fourteen sentinels expressed their own uneasiness.

Finally after looking them up and down the Don closed the laptop and leaned back in his chair.

"So you're the lady trio I've heard of?" He started, "I trust you were respected on the way in?"

"Sir," the guard closest stepped up to the Don's ear, "We had to give them a full body strip search. Perhaps it would be best to move along."

"What? So? They didn't find anything right? So where is the problem?" the Don chuckled.

"Well sir…their leader has a bit of a fear of showing her face." The man informed, "She actually beat the crap out of the guy that searched her. He's okay, but we had to have another guard search her. We gave her a pillow to hold over her face."

The Don raised an eye brow. Then his eyes drifted over to the red head. Many if not all the men in the room were thinking the same thing. They were all wishing they had been the one to conduct the search on her. Some of the suited guards even mumbled a curse under their breathe. The mood returned once the Don spoke again.

"Alright," he agreed, leaning forward on the desk, "straight to business then. Well you've done a few 'jobs' for a friend of mine. Unfortunately you've also done business with my competition for a certain market. I'm going to trust you though. I hope letting you see me in person is trust enough. There aren't too many people that get to meet me so easily. Especially in the business we are here to discuss. My friend however tells me you are quite good at what you do though. So let's find out just how good you are. Sound good? So-"

"Your competitor." The hooded leader stated, "We'll start there."

"Oh?" He responded, "I don't know. That's a big hit. Rather risky I must say. If I did agree to it I assume you'd charge a fairly large amount. Correct?"

She walked up to the edge of the desk. Several of the men reached into their jackets ready to react to whatever might happen. Tony reached into his pocket and found the tiny panic button. Everyone in the room had one. When pressed two automated mini guns would drop from panels in the ceiling.

"May I use that phone?" She inquired. "Bear in mind I'll have to destroy the phone. Security and all. Are you alright with this?"

He nodded and gestured for her to go right ahead. At the same time he leaned back in the chair again.

She pulled the phone over to the edge. She hit the speaker button for them all to hear but then draped the poncho over it to hide the number. No one moved as she dialed the number. The beeping phone was the only noise in the room for that time. There was a buzz on the other line followed by a click.

"Your target. Go." She didn't say anything else. There was another beep as she hung up.

"Please," the Don chuckled, "you expect me to believe you already had this worked out? Besides that, how do you know something won't go wrong? And even if it does succeed, how am I supposed to know it was real? I need some kind of confirmation. Ya know like a ring or something."

The poncho woman did not reply. In fact she didn't even respond in any way. She stood like a statue. The silence made the mobsters very uncomfortable. The women were the only calm ones in the room. These women freaked them out, and they could not figure out why.

About ten minutes passed. The whole time no one said anything or moved. The red head yawned but nothing more. To Tony it seemed like an hour. Finally the phone rang again. Several of the guards jumped when it did. The woman reached down with a clothed hand and hit the speaker again.

On the other line some was breathing heavily.

"Hello?" the Don asked, leaning forward again.

"H-hello?" Came the voice of a clearly frightened Hispanic voice, "Who is dis?"

Tony had heard the voice once before. He didn't know the man's name, but he knew it belonged to the 'competition' the Don mentioned earlier. Its owner was a Cuban man who made a living as an arms dealer. Somehow Tony figured he was not going to be a problem for that much longer.

"This is a very powerful man," the Don gloated, "one of which has the power to decide whether you live or die. Now you will answer my questions. Who are you?"

"A powerful- wait is dat you Don Meano?" The Cuban's voice barked, "So den dis is your monkey?"

"Shut up," Meano returned barks, "I said I'm asking the questions here."

"You dumb shit!" He snapped, "You know damn well who dis is. It's Mendez you dumb shmuck. Now call off your psycho ese."

Don Meano thought for a moment then looked up at the shadowy woman.

"Alright," he started, "clever. He could easily be an actor though. Paid off to make it seem like him. Maybe even one of your people."

The Hispanic began screaming a series of obscenities, not realizing the Don was not addressing him.

"How do I know you aren't an actor?" the female responded, "Because you know I did say I wanted to meet Don Meano. Not an imposter. So if you are truly him than we don't have a problem. If you are a stand in…"

Tony started to sweat. The man in front of them, the man that claimed to be Don Meano was a stand in. They all knew it. Apparently so did the women. If their cover had been blown he was sure the women would be very upset and may even try to attack. Tony was aware that the real Don was not even in the country. If they started attacking looking for the real Meano, they'd never find him. Tony did not hit his panic button however the fact that they were unarmed held him back. He knew if they did attack they would surely lose. What worried him was how many would they take with them.

"That's fair," the fraud continued, "I will still that confirmation though."

"Fine." She replied.

Over the speaker they could all hear the voice start pleading for his life. There was some rustling that sounded like someone moving, rubbing against the phone speaker in the process. Mendez begged his attacker to reconsider. He even began spewing out bribes. All of his attempts would end in vain however.

Pleads for life changed into full fledged screams. The screams were not pretend. They were real and they were painful. After a moment the screams started to gargle a bit. Eventually the gargled screams dimmed and faded. The audience of frightened men could do nothing but listen as they could hear the sounds of flesh tearing and ripping and bones breaking, snapping and popping. There was one last loud crunch as the line went dead.

The female picked up the phone. She brought the whole thing up under her poncho. Disconnecting it she let the wire drop to the desktop. Keeping the rest of the phone with her.

Everyone in the room had heard and even seen things worse than that. Yet three of the guards began to vomit anyway. The Don was sweating. After a moment he too pulled a trash bucket over and began to spew stomach contents into it. Tony stumbled back a bit, only to be held up by the wall behind him.

"Interesting," the red head spoke, "A mob boss that can't hold his cookies. How unlikely."

The chubby fraud wiped his mouth then sat up. He flopped back in his chair.

"Alright," he finally uttered. It was all he could muster in his queasy state.

"Now payment." The poncho figure stated, "For this task we might have only charged perhaps half a million. Maybe even a million. However I did ask to meet THE Don Meano. Not this fake." Clearly the girl agreed with the statement the red head made moments ago.

Suddenly large chunks of plastic and smaller bits of metal fell out from under her poncho. Had they not seen her pick it up, they might not have known that it was a telephone at all.

The parts clattered to the floor. She never moved once. No one had even heard her break it. The chatter of plastic on the floor made some men jump. Others just pulled their guns out. Someone had even hit the panic button in their pocket. The two machines dropped from their hiding places in the ceiling. Instantly they targeted the poncho hood and started the gun barrels spinning. No bullets came however.

The Don put his hands up in an attempt to calm everyone.

"Alright," he cleared, "alright. We're sorry. We did not mean to deceive you. It was simply a security issue. You must understand. We meant no offense by this gesture."

"Fortunately for all of you," she continued, "I feel oddly merciful today. So I think we will just settle for a much higher price."

"H-higher?" the sweaty Don stammered.

"Five million should do." She finished.

"What?!" He stood up now, "I can't give you that much. I'm not authorized to. Hell he wasn't even worth that much. I can't- I mean the real Don isn't even in the country. Just give me a day. That's all I'd need to get the money then I can wire it all over to you." 

"No," She snapped, "Cash only. We don't need a paper trail."

"I understand," he flopped back in his chair, "but I just can't do that then."

"Oh, you shouldn't have said that." The little girl winked at him. She then reached up and pulled the metal disc from her hair. Holding it parallel to the floor it, she held it poised to be thrown at any moment. Some how this disc had blades on it now. Each leaf of the metallic flower was a blade.

The sexy tall woman yanked at the braided leather necklaces. They came off and seemed to tumble to the floor in a heap. One of them however was still in her hand. Once the leather mess had fallen to the floor it was clear they were not necklaces at all. It was all just one big long whip. She too held it ready to slash at a moment's notice.

Leader woman remained still.

Now all the men had their weapons drawn as well. Tony trembled. How had they snuck those weapons in? Other than Tony trembling, no one moved. Everyone waited to see who would make the first move.

"Now wait a minute," the Don stood up again, "A-are you crazy? You're out numbered and far out gunned. Just what do you think you can accomplish with those? You don't seriously think you can beat us with them? You can't hope to win."

The leader's head tilted back a bit. Enough to see her mouth at least.

"That's never stopped us before," the shadowy woman remarked, "and I guarantee you. It never will."

**Chapter I – At the end of the Day**

Ben bashed his head against his locker door. Finally the school day was over. It was just like every other day. He was just slightly more tired today. It gave him all the more reason to be glad the day was over. Now he could go home and sleep.

He stood up and rubbed his head. If he had leaned on the locker too long he feared he would pass out right there. Gazing at the locker handle he thought about what about what little homework he had.

His thoughts were interrupted by a hard cover book bouncing off the back of his head. It was a text book. The hard cover belonged to his best friend, Brendan.

Ben and Brendan had been friends for as long as he could remember. Brendan was slightly taller than him. It was only by a few inches but he always picked on him because of it. They had always treated one another like brothers. They looked enough alike that many times they were believed to be brothers. Both had brown hair and average complexions. Ben had blue eyes while Brendan had brown. Ben was also stronger which he used as leverage over Brendan. Other than that they were nothing special.

"Yo, man," Brendan greeted as he planted himself against the wall of lockers, "I wouldn't let coach see ya dozing off like that. He'll work your ass off tomorrow at practice."

"Yea I know." He replied. They both had joined the football team freshman year of high school. They both had made the team every year since. Brendan's father had pushed him to join, so his heart was never really in it. That was probably why Brendan did not play all that often either. Ben had joined to give Brendan some moral support and someone to talk with. They were both receivers but Brendan was viewed as being better on the bench than the field.

Ben however had been named team MVP three years running. His skill had also gotten the attention of many of the school's female populace. All the girls wanted him while all the guys either wanted to be him or wanted him dead. In the mean time he wanted to be someone else. Popularity was not really his thing. He was more than content with the simple life he had.

"Oh yea, speaking of which," Brendan continued, "word has it coach wants the team to work on being able to take a hit. Especially the receivers."

"Wha? Crap," Ben complained, "That son of a – wait. Where did you hear this?"

"Where do you think?"

Ben rolled his eyes and opened the locker into Brendan's face. He did not understand why the cheerleaders got the football players' practice schedules before the football players themselves. Of course he had decided that he probably did not want to know.

Brendan poked his head around the locker door. He went to say something but say something on the other side of Ben. So instead he gave Ben a warning heads up.

"Speak of the devil." Brendan dropped back behind the locker door. Now hidden he opened the text book and stuck his nose in it to hide himself further.

Ben knew who it was that was approaching. He could hear her clicking female shoe-wear. So he didn't even bother to look up.

"Hey Ben," came the high pitched screech of the lead cheerleader, Annette.

By the standard of any self-serving male, this five and a half foot tall walking bag of lust was referred to as the Cleopatra of their day. She sported shoulder length blond hair which she worn in a pony tail. It was something she rarely did. According to her it damaged her hair. She had what most would call the perfect figure. It was rumored that she even turned some homosexual guys straight. In a single word men often described her as 'hot' or 'sexy' while most women would call her a 'skank' or the growing favorite 'slut.' She and Ben were viewed as the best looking in the school.

"So I was thinking," she continued as mumbled something under his breathe, "Want to hang out tonight?"

"And you had to think about that?" he responded, "That's the most direct approach you've tried yet."

"Well I did have a lot of time to think and all," she chirped. Holding a book against her chest she leaned in and started rubbing herself on Ben's shoulder. Ben just rolled his eyes and tossed a book into the locker.

"Yea, cause seventh period was all that long ago." He remarked.

"Hey now," she said, taking a step back, "I heard your dad was out of town for the weekend. So I thought you might want some company. Ya know someone o cuddle with in the cold of night. It isn't like we have to go any where or anything. We could just stay at your house. Unless you wanted to come to mine but my mom is home all month so I don't know how much fun that would be. Actually I do know of this great –"

"Sorry," he cut her off, "I've got a test on Monday. And I've got a lot of chores. So with studying, chores and homework, I'll be pretty busy."

Ben admitted that she was very attractive. So the offer was temping. She was the fantasy of every twelve year old boy since she had developed physically after all. However she had always been a pest to him. He never really had any intention of liking her. The reality of it though was that he had alterative motives. These reasons applied not only to Annette but anyone that ever tried to get close to him. Ben's father and Brendan were the only two that he had ever told what those reasons were. No one else ever found out simply because he did not believe anyone else would understand. He wasn't even sure Brendan understood but he trusted him. Unfortunately this only made him appear more mysterious which made him more appealing to the opposite gender.

"Oh come on," she was not about to walk away so easily, "How can you continue to refuse me? Am I attractive to you? I don't see how that could be though. I was elected home coming queen twice. Junior and senior year. Juniors aren't even aloud to home coming queen. Don't you see Ben? I'm the most attractive woman in the school and you're the most attractive man in the school. It's practically destiny that we are to be together. You and I –"

Annette had been interrupted by another prissy cheerleader down the hall a bit. Ben could see the girl waving to her friend who was clearly frustrated at the second interruption.

"Alright coming," she called back, "Okay well I have to go. If you happen to change my mind you have my number. If not you can always talk to me online sometime. Kay? Bye."

With that she waved and trotted off down the crowded hall. Ben watched and waited till she was out of sight before doing anything. Once she was he let out a sigh of relief and shut the locker door.

"Dude," Brendan had reappeared from behind his book, "I still cannot believe you. I mean, I remember what you said about all that stuff with your mom, but dude seriously. This is Annette Rose Manning we are talking about here. Any lesser man would kill to have her attention that badly. The only other guy that has even come close is Chad. And he's not half the man you are. I'm not saying you have to love her or anything. I tend to doubt she loves you. She's just looking for some fun if ya know what I mean? You should at least consider that as well. I know even I'd hit that in a heart beat."

"What would you be hitting pray-tell?" It was Brendan's girl friend's voice. She kicked him in the butt as she came up behind him.

"Ah!" Brendan turned white, "th-the books of course. Heh heh. Yea that's it. I'd hit the books."

She raised an eyebrow, "In a heart beat huh?" her eyebrow twitched, "You? Yea right. Okay and uhhh what book would that be? Human anatomy?"

He turned away from her to face Ben again and crossed his arms, "I haven't the slightest clue what you're implying."

"Tee hee. You're such a dumb ass," she giggled, "but I guess that's why I love ya." She tucked her right arm under his left and leaned against him.

Angela was about as tall as Annette was. Angela however was no cheerleader. She enjoyed the simpler things in life. Being brown haired and gray eyed with glasses she was not the hottest girl in school. Brendan found her sexy in his own way though.

"Yea whatever" he unfolded his arms and put one over her shoulder, "but seriously Ben. You've got to get out and do something at some point. That girl is going to hound you to death. Literally."

"Oh please," Angela laughed, "he is right though Ben. You've been alone for as long as I've known you. Probably longer. It's senior year. And as much as I despise the girl she is the most interested in you and is trying harder than any one else. Oh and I'll be damned if you don't go to prom this year. Even if you don't sit with us at least you'd be there. You are going to find a date and go. You aren't going to sit on your ass by yourself all night like last year."

"Thanks mom." He remarked. Rolling his eyes again he turned and left down the hall.

"Hey, ass hole I'm serious!" She screamed. He simply waved and disappeared into the crowd. "I just don't get it. Why won't either of you tell me why he doesn't want a girl friend?"

Brendan lowered his gaze, "It isn't just a girl friend he doesn't want. It's more complicated than that. Most people probably would never understand. To hear it is one thing, but to actually feel it is something completely different."

The old pick-up truck sputtered for a bit then rolled to a stop. The engine rumbled for another second but hissed to silence. Cleveland could see steam coming from under the hood.

"Ah crap jusht what I need." The drunk cursed as he kicked open the door. He stepped out of the rust bucket as the small dog followed in step. Toby sniffed around a bit then found a nice spot to relieve him self. "Toby you stay put okay? Hic. Oh god."

The hic-up brought the alcohol taste back to his mouth. It caught him off guard and caused him to tumble back against the vehicle simultaneously shutting the door. Alcohol seemed to taste a lot better the first time. This second time around it was not as enjoyable.

Cleveland stumbled to the front of the trunk and popped the hood up. Smoke and steam overwhelmed the tired man in its escape of the run down car. He coughed and stumbled back a bit waving his arms to clear it.

"Ah shit," he coughed again, "I can't even see the pieshe a shit. Course I prolly couldn't even see it anyway. Hic. Maybe I can find some help or shomethin."

He looked around the dirt path. In his drunken state he was lucky to determine one tree from another. Yet he still managed to realize that he had no idea where he was. Both directions he could see nothing but trees. If there was a house out there he was not going to find it by him self.

Fortunately he was not going to have to look very long. A short way down the road the fuzzy dog began yelping at something obscured by the trees. He was eager to move forward but wasn't sure and ended up just rocking back and forth.

"Find something boy?" Cleveland asked as he made his way over. Toby just whined a bit in response.

Once next to the canine Cleveland could make out another road. It appeared to be more of a drive way than a road however. This new path brought him up to a large mansion. It was dirty and run down. Clearly no one had lived there for quite some time. At one time it may have been a manor or ranch. There were other smaller buildings scattered around the area. Some of them appeared to be no more than storage sheds or shacks. The building itself had fallen into such disrepair that it made it very creepy.

After Cleveland took a few steps towards the facility Toby chickened out and took off down the dirt road they had come down. The drunk however never noticed the frightened animal leave his side.

"Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll have a phone." He murmured to himself.

The front door consisted of a pair of double doors. Both doors' hinges had rusted in place. The left door was already open a slight bit though. It was enough for Cleveland to get his arm in and push it open enough for him to get in.

The inside was no better than the outside. Everything was pitch black. After his eyes adjusted he could tell that the only light in the room was coming through various holes in the building structure. It was a very cloudy day as well making the lighting all the worse.

He could at least see that there were two staircases. One to his left and one to his right, both ran along the wall and lead up to a balcony on the second floor that ran the wall in front of him. Anything past the railing of the stairs or balcony was hidden by the darkness however.

"Hello?" Cleveland called.

To no surprise there was no answer. He honestly had preferred it that way after seeing the condition of the house.

Still wary of anything he proceeded into the room. He made it about half way in when a long leather cord fired out from under the staircase on his right. It wrapped itself around his neck making it difficult for him to breathe. From the other staircase launched a sickle weapon attached to a chain. This wrapped around his left leg. The sickle then latched into one of the chain links and with a yank brought Cleveland to the floor. The leather cord pulled at the same time causing him to spin as he fell planting him on his back. The impact threw his head back into the dirty marble floor. He rumbled a bit then shut his eyes, unconscious.

Ben dropped his bag on the couch.

"Dad. I'm home." He called. Waiting a moment he listened for a response. Nothing responded, "Good, then at least he did manage to get up this morning."

Ben's father was an electrician of some kind. Ben did not know the details of the job. He just knew his father wasn't the average electrician. His father worked on bigger systems, more elaborate and potentially dangerous systems. It was not with a big company or anything so it demanded he travel often.

The answering machine had some messages on it so Ben went over to check them. There were two messages. Caller ID let Ben know who they were from. The first and most recent call turned out to be from Annette. He deleted it with out even bothering to listen to it. Doing so was rude and he was aware but he knew what she was going to say.

The second message was a number he did not recognize. He hit the play button. It was his father's voice.

"Hey Ben. Listen it turns out the morons here managed to really botch up the system I put in. Unfortunately I'm gonna have to fix it for them. But the problem is the things I need to do so are still there at the house. Ya know some program discs and special wires I've got in the basement. So just go ahead and get yourself some dinner. I know I wasn't going to be home anyway. I'll get something on the way home. Alright then? Well I've got to get going then. I'll see ya when I see ya. Don't wait up for me. Bye."

A beep indicated the end of the message. Ben deleted it and made his way back to the couch. He grabbed the bag off the couch, dropped it to the floor then sprawled out on the sofa. He stretched his arms and legs.

Just as he was about to kick off his shoes something started scratching at the front door. It sounded like the nails of a small animal of some sort.

His dog Toby darted in as soon as Ben got the door open enough. The dog usually went with his father. So Ben assumed his father must have been home. The animal did not run to his food and water as he usually did after a trip though. Instead he began chasing his tail and barking frantically.

Curious Ben stepped out onto the porch. Off to his right was the drive way and it was empty. There was no reason for his father to park the old pick up any where else. Ben began to worry. Toby shot back outside and hopped off the porch. Once in the front yard again he turned back to Ben and continued his panicked routine. Clearly something was wrong.

"Okay Toby," Ben said and turned to shut the door behind him. He then jumped down the four steps that lead to the porch and grabbed his bike leaning against it. "Take me to Dad boy." He asked the little dog but it was already in the process of retracing its steps.

After sniffing for a moment Toby took off full sprint down the road. Ben didn't hesitate to follow. They made a series of turns making their way through the rush hour of the small town. All the while Ben thought about what he was going to have to do once he located the old man.

Ben's father often had a bad habit of drinking too much. It was an unfortunate habit he picked up shortly after his wife Ben's mother had died. All too often since then it got the elderly man into trouble that Ben was the one to bail him out of. It was a job Ben had not volunteered for but knew he had to continue to do.

Eventually they followed the roads north to one specific one that went around the mountain. It was a small road that squeezed between the mountains that dotted the area.

Eventually Toby darted off the right side of the road and into a thicket. Once through Ben could see a small dirt path not that far ahead of him. His bike got him through the thicket but that was it. He had to dismount and carry it through the rest of the brush.

Once he made it to the road he looked for Toby who was already on his way up the path to Ben's left. He had never known the path was there but Ben could tell the direction they were headed took them further up the mountain. Most of the mountains in the area were still heavily forested. There were never any reports of any one living out this way however.

Shrugging it off for the moment Ben got back on his bicycle and continued to follow the fuzzy canine up the mountain path. It was big enough for a car to drive on but the terrain was treacherous. As they continued on it began to smooth out a bit though.

After a little while longer they rounded a bend and spotted the front end of the pick Ben's father usually drove. The hood was up for some reason so Ben figured there must have been some car problems that caused him to stop. Other than that there was still nothing on the path. Ben hopped off and dropped the bike next to the truck. He knew if his father had left the truck he could not have gotten far. If he was drunk he would be even closer.

Toby did not bother with the truck however. He continued down the path. Ben decided it was probably best to continue to follow the creature. Toby had stopped though. He took up a seat in the middle of the road starring at something on the left side of the road.

Ben thought for a moment that Cleveland must have fallen into a ditch there and was hurt. When he got closer to the dog though he saw it was not at all. In front of him stood an enormous mansion that looked like something he had seen in a history book or a horror film. He prayed it was not like one from a horror film though.

There would be time to explore it later however. He shot for the double door entrance. Ben knew that if his father had gone in it was likely that he was either passed out from drunkenness or passed out from getting hurt. For the first time Ben found himself actually hoping it was because he was drunk.

Already open a bit he easily slipped between the two rusted doors. He got in and began to move in before his eyes had even adjusted to the dark environment. It was a bad move on his part.

From the shadows on the right side a pole of some kind shot out and lodged itself between his still moving legs. Naturally he could not stop in time and toppled to the floor on his hands and knees. He glanced back to see what had tripped him but it had already receded into the darkness. The only glance of it he had gotten was a blur of it being yanked out of sight.

Looking ahead of him into the room again he could now see his father lying in the center of the room.

"Dad!" Ben called out to him but he did not respond. Instead leather braided cord leading from Cleveland's neck to the shadows under the staircase on the right hand side of the room appeared. The cord tightened a bit. With the sudden increase in tension Cleveland sprung back to life grabbing the leather around his neck in an attempt to release him self. His face turned red under the stress.

"No! Stop please." Ben cried. Tears began to well up in his eyes. Quickly he blinked them away. Once the tears were out of the way Ben could see the shadows under the balcony in front of him begin to move. A figure stepped out.

It was a tall man with long dark blue hair. In the light it looked almost black. Over his shoulders he wore something that was half tunic half cape. Underneath that his clothes resembled that of an age long past. They had an old fashion feel to them yet looked very new age at the same time. He was extremely muscular. Most muscle heads that Ben knew of seemed disproportionate. This man did not have that dilemma.

The almost black haired man stopped & folded his arms. He stood like a statue. He was not the one to speak however. Another voice came from the shadows he had emerged from.

"And why would we do that?" the female voice asked.

"Why?" Ben pondered, "Well for starters it would be murder. But if you really must know he's my father. H-he's-he's the only family I have left."

It was silent for a few minutes. The long haired man turned a bit to watch something in the shadows he came from. Suddenly a silhouette materialized. There was no detail visible just the jet black figure of someone wearing a hooded cloak of some kind. In the shade Ben could not tell but he thought the cloak did not go all the way to the floor but he was not concerned about it.

"I have lived my whole life without a family," the figure snapped, "Even if I do decide to let him leave here alive what do I receive in return for the favor?"

"I-I don't know," he answered, "What do you want?"

The shadow's head lifted a bit in interest. Even the blue haired man looked back and forth curious to hear the answer. As they waited Ben got to his feet. He made sure to keep his emotions in check.

"What I want you can't give to me," the shadow finally replied, "You can't even know what that is because it doesn't exist in a miserable world like this. And even suggesting you did manage to come up with something remotely close you would have to remain here for the rest of your pathetic life."

"Done!" Ben shot back, "But you have to promise me you'll let my father go unharmed."

"No Ben," Cleveland managed to choke out. Doing so only tightened the cord around his neck. It was a signal to him to stay silent.

The figure thought for a moment. She did not seem to have expected Ben to reply that way. Her posture even seemed to hint at some confusion. Finally she spoke but only one word, "Fine."

With that the leather leash restraining Cleveland dropped to the floor limp. He let out a cough as air made its way back into his lungs. Ben was about to apologize when everything suddenly went dark. All he knew was that something had just slammed into his right temple putting him unconscious on the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter II – A Cold Reminder**

"Ben Clover huh? He's twenty years old."

Ben opened his eyes to see two people standing over him. One was the dark blue haired man from earlier. It was his voice Ben just heard. He could tell because the second person was a tall red haired woman. The two of them were going through his wallet. Their preoccupation kept them from realizing he was awake.

"That's about how old Princess was before the curse." The woman responded.

"Curse? Princess?" Ben moaned as he sat up, "Who are you? Where are we? How about just telling me what is going on all together?"

The two were clearly caught off guard. She jumped a bit but they both had the look of uneasy on their faces. It was the kind of look that often followed up with the phrase, "Oh shit."

"Ah you're awake. Good." The man instead said, "Actually before we go explaining everything how about we start with introductions. I'm Helix."

The woman sat down on the bed by Ben's knees and gave him a wink, "My name is Crimzon."

Ben could not help but stare at her for a moment. The only person he had ever seen so physically appealing was Annette and he even thought that she was ugly compared to this woman. What caught Ben's eye though was that almost everything about this woman was red: her hair, lips, sections of her clothes, nails, her high heeled boots, even her eyes. The only things that were not red were remote sections of her jump suit and the braider leather necklaces around her neck. Her whole body suit looked like a kinky version of what Ben had seen NASCAR drivers wear. It was extremely tight and the zipper in the front was down a bit exposing more cleavage than Ben thought possible. He thought for a moment his nose was going to start bleeding.

Ben gulped then turned back to Helix. The blue haired man had a stern yet understanding look in his eyes. Mixed in was a hint of relaxation and gentleness. Ben got the idea that he was more of a noble warrior rather than a hardened killer. He happened to catch Ben's reaction to the female and it made him chuckle a bit.

"Now then," Helix began, "How's your head?"

"F-fine. I guess," Ben uttered. He felt his head. Specifically the area he remembered the pain originating from. Yet he found no lumps, cuts, or bruises.

"Good," Helix folded his arms as he began to speak, "Cause we've got a lot to discuss."

"Wait," Ben tried to stand but Crimzon put her hand on his knee to keep him down, "Well what about my father?"

"Don't worry," Helix replied, "We took care of him. You have to realize that we can and will kill without hesitation but we are not completely without honor. We promised he would not be harmed. So he shall remain. So relax. You're father is fine."

"Well if you guys have any kind of honor then why did you attack an old unarmed man?" Ben snapped.

"Hey you little shit!" Crimzon snapped back, "She could have easily given us the order and –"

"Crimzon," Helix cut in, "maybe I should handle this. Alone! Come on why don't you go let everyone know he's awake?"

She snorted but decided to comply. Sticking her nose in the air she left through a door on the wall Ben's back was to but on his left.

Once she was out of ear shot Helix let out a sigh and sat down in her place on the bed.

"Who was it she meant?" Ben asked.

"That was what I was just going to tell you," he answered, "First I'd like to apologize about her. I guess it explains why we call her Crimzon. She's got a bit of a temper and ya know how anger and the color red tend to – ah never mind. Right well, Crimzon was referring to our leader or master in some respects. We call her Princess. Ironic I know. We call her that though because well we don't know what her real name is. In fact there isn't a lot we know about her. Or ourselves for that matter."

"Why?" Ben inquired.

"Well it's that curse you heard us talking about. It is a bit of a long story. Ya see Princess's father was a bit of a nut. A tyrant too. It was a really really long time ago. I can't tell you how long cause well like I said, we don't know. Let's just say it was long before North America had been discovered."

"What!?" Ben almost fell out of the bed with his response.

"I know. It shouldn't be possible. No it isn't possible. But that's one of the curse's affects. We basically will live forever, and we can't remember anything before the curse was placed on us. I know that by now it doesn't really matter but we literally could not remember anything. Family, friends, our jobs, birthdays, how old we are, what year it was. Everything. Well except for like the things we needed to survive. Like how to talk, breathe, eat, read, swim, walk, so on and so forth. Princess remembers her age but that's it. We know her father was a tyrant because he was why we got cursed. We also kind of got the idea that she must have picked up her father's traits as well. I can't imagine her life before hand was all that different.

"We lived some where in what is now France. Her father must have been some kind of vassal or noble of some kind. He was very rich too. He had a lot of servants and slaves. Even peasants and stuff to work the land around the area he controlled.

"So now that you've got the back story you know why we were cursed. One day the estate had a visitor. Again we don't know the details but we assume she was some kind of an assassin. All we know that one morning while Princess and her father were having breakfast was apparently when they would allow locals to speak with him. Merchants and travelers too. They would even bring in convicts and prisons to be sentenced. So it wasn't hard for the assassin to get in.

"She posed as an old beggar woman looking for food. She asked him for some food and when he said no she went to Princess as well. Both turned her away though. The guards went to grab her but she kicked the crap out of them and showed us her true form. Which for some reason is the only thing of that day we can't remember either. That whole day we remember though other than that. Anyway, the assassin quickly did away with her father. Though for some reason she decided to put a curse on Princess. I don't know why. But she did. And we were drawn into just because we where her and her father's servants.

"There we were stupid, alone, and confused. After a bit a while we were able to do some searching around and figure out some things. Most of us managed to remember what job we had. But that was about the most important thing we managed to remember before the peasants rose up. They killed a lot of people that night. Fortunately we managed to get a good number of us out of the country alive. Not that it made much of a difference though. From then till now more and more have died."

"Well Helix," Ben interrupted, "If this is Princess's problem then why do you all stick around? Why not ditch her and do your own thing? Even if you do have the curse on you, you could still live separate from her. You don't have to take orders from her. Why do you all stay with her?"

Helix sighed again, "Well for starters we don't know if we can. Anyone who has ever tried we don't know what happened to them. Princess has killed some for trying though."

"Well there you have it," Ben concurred, "If she can kill you guys who says you can't kill her?"

"Don't you think we've tried that?" Helix argued, "There have been several to try. And all fail. Don't ask me why but somehow they did. Besides, the assassin said she would return when we broke the curse."

"And how do you do that?"

"Princess has to learn to love. At the same time the person she falls in love with must also be in love with her. It's the only way to break her of her cruelty."

"Wait, I think I read a story like this before."

Helix ignored his comment, "We've tried to bring people to her for her to try and get to know. Though most were either looking for sex, money, or power."

"Wait, I thought you said you guys were driven from your homes? Wouldn't that mean you have no money?"

"Yes, but we have survived in this world rather well. We've made our own money as professional assassins. Again ironic some how. But aside from that money we've made over the years the assassin also promised she'd return when and if we broke the curse. When she did she would return everything Princess had and then some. Each servant still with her at that time would also receive a portion. But the amount for even that is supposed to be enormous. More than we could ever know what to do with. So that provides lots of incentive as well. Though at this point most of us have stopped worrying about the money. We've all got our reasons for staying with Princess. I wouldn't go around asking them why though. We find that it may be better for us to just keep it to ourselves."

"What about you?" Ben asked. "Why do you stay?"

Helix stood up, "Well we were able to find out that I was apparently the captain of the guard. So I just kind of feel that it's my duty to see this through."

Both men were silent for a bit. Ben did not know what else he could do.

"So for close to a thousand or so years all of you have been killing just to survive?" Ben pondered, "How many of you are there?"

Helix chuckled again, "I find that to be ironic as well. There are only thirteen servants left. Then Princess."

Ben was about to speak again but was cut off by a knock on the wall. It was Crimzon again. She seemed a bit worried now as she entered the room.

"Helix," she announced, "Princess wants to see him. She's in the room she chose as hers."

"Very well," Helix nodded his head. Turning back to Ben he smiled. Ben didn't know why but somehow he knew that he had just made a friend amongst this group of killers.

Ben got out of the bed and followed the two servants through the halls of the second floor. At one point they walked along the balcony in the main hall. It was much brighter now. Sun came through the windows and holes in the ceiling. The whole time they made their way through the building he did not see anyone else. It was as big inside as it looked outside.

Eventually some where in the west wing they located a staircase that took them up to third floor. Before going up they put a blind fold on him though. Security reasons they told him. He didn't mind though.

After a few more twists and turns he heard them open a door. Then one of them pushed him in. He took a few more steps into the room then heard the door shut behind him. The blind fold was still on so he did not try to go very far. Fortunately he would not have to.

"Remove the blind fold," Princess ordered.

Ben did as ordered with no complaint. The room itself was just like the rest of the building: run down. Chairs and small lamp tables were laid out across the room. There was a large queen sized bed on Ben's left. On the wall he faced was a large open window. It opened to a balcony on the side of the building. The sun coming through it blinded him a bit, but his eyes adjusted quickly. At one time he could tell that this room was no doubt as beautiful as the rest of the house. That time however was no doubt long gone.

Helix and Crimzon had stayed in the hall. Out on the balcony facing in however stood the one Ben assumed was Princess. She wore some kind of brown poncho. It didn't look like a cloth but at the same time it did. Her feet and legs were not covered by the poncho. Everything else was though. On her legs she wore a tight green suit of some sort with some white on the side. Ben could not see the design at the angle they both stood at. The hood of her poncho covered her face half way but with the sun on her back none of it was visible.

"Y-you wanted to talk to me?" Ben asked.

"You will speak when spoken to, understand?!" She demanded.

Ben just stood there.

"I assume Helix has given you our history by now?" She interrogated.

"Yes." Ben answered.

He did not like her tone. Clearly she went out of her to make sure that she intimidated him. It was a task he was not about to let her accomplish without a fight. Though he planned to stand up to her, he was still scared to what she would do if he stood against her too much.

"So I ask you then," She continued, "What do you think? He did tell you how I have grown increasingly tired of these attempts did he not?"

"No." he stated as firmly as he could.

"I see. But he did tell you about the curse and how we are to break it? Yes?"

"Yes. And I would like to say something about that."

She turned her back to him and leaned against the railing on the balcony outside, "Then speak."

"Look, I sympathize with you. I really do. I can't begin to comprehend what you've been through in your life. I can try though. What it is I want to say though is, well," he hesitated for a moment but regained his composure quickly. "I can't help you. Rather I won't."

She turned a bit keeping her right hand on the railing. Ben could now see her chin and mouth in the light.

"And why is that?" she inquired.

The door opened and the boy stepped out. His head was down. Once he saw Helix and Crimzon on either side of the door he stood up straight like nothing was wrong. Princess stepped out behind him causing Helix and Crimzon to jump up as straight as Ben.

"Crimzon," Princess said, "I wish to speak with Abaddon."

Without a word Crimzon took off down the hall.

Princess then turned back to Ben and Helix.

"Helix," she commanded, "I recommend you tell the others that Ben will be staying with us for some time. They are to treat him as one of your selves."

Helix looked at her confused but didn't say anything. He bowed to her then made his way after Crimzon. As he left he glanced back at Ben and the Princess. Ben could not figure out what was so confusing. Of course being alone with Princess for so long was probably confusing enough as it was.

"Ben," Princess's voice was much calmer and less demanding then it was towards the two servants, "Considering the conversation we just had I see no reason to prevent you from returning home. You must return here after your schooling however. And you will make no mention of us to anyone. Is that clear?"

"Of course," he replied, "thank you."

Princess snorted then turned to go back in the room.

"Wait can I ask you something?" he inquired.

She looked over her shoulder at him. Her eyes were still covered by the hood though and her shoulder obscured her mouth making her nose the only visible feature. Yet she still did not say anything.

"I was wondering why you seem to make it such a concern to cover your face," he pondered.

She looked back at the door again, "I read a book once. It was about a prince that had been turned into a monster. Like me he had to fall in love to break his curse. My story is exactly like his. The only difference is that he is a story. I am real. And in reality there are no happy endings."

"So you're saying you think you are a beast?" he hypothesized, "That you think you're ugly? Is that it?"

Without even responding she moved opened the door again and went in. She did left him standing in the hall by himself.

He looked back and forth trying to figure out what direction to go. Eventually he decided to make his way in the direction Crimzon and Helix had left. He just hoped that someone would find him and show him the way out. No one had even bothered to tell him how long he was unconscious so he did not know how many days he may or may not have missed.

It was not long before he was lost. He had found a balcony that over looked the main hall. This one however was above the entrance door. It was the first time he realized just how high the room went. When he came in the first time he was too preoccupied to see it but when they had passed it when they were still on the second floor he had just missed it because of it being higher up. He checked to make sure there were no other floors above that. Fortunately there were none.

The problem however was that he had past this balcony several times already. It was his third time crossing it and he was starting to get frustrated. In an attempt to relax a moment he stopped and leaned on the railing. He started going through the different halls he had tried already in his head. The best he could figure was that the entire floor was a group of three different loops. What he could not figure out was why he could not find the staircase that would take him down.

Just glancing around he saw someone make their way across the room of the bottom floor. They were too far away to get any details on the figure but it did not faze Ben. He called out to the person.

"Hey!" he called.

The person stopped a moment and look around. When they could not see anything they finished their trek across the room. Leaving Ben still lost on the third floor.

He sighed and dropped his head to the railing. Suddenly his ankles began to elevate by themselves and begin to tumble him over the railing. As he went through with his involuntary front flip he could see no one on the stair case.

He now found himself now falling down three stories. Then right above the floor of his impending doom he stopped in mid-air. He could feel the sweat trickle down his back. At least he thought it was sweat. He hoped it was sweat.

Still in shock he looked up the way he had just come. Above him there was still nothing but empty air. Being his nose was literally inches from the floor he placed his hands down to brace himself for when whatever had grabbed him would let him go.

"H-hello?" He stuttered.

"Chameleon," the innocent voice of a young female rang in the huge hall.

Suddenly Ben toppled to the floor on his back. He looked up at the ceiling again and still saw nothing. Yet he was sure something had held him up by his ankles. He did however hear the sound of a chain rattle. It was not very loud and it did not last very long.

That's when Ben suddenly heard the sound of a little girl giggling. The girl was on the same floor he was. Being on his back his first glimpse of the girl would be upside down. He rolled to his stomach to see her up right.

The girl could not have been older than twelve or thirteen. She had green hair that was pulled back. Rather than put the hair in a bun or tail it spread out almost creating a halo around her head. Ben couldn't understand how she could keep it in this open bun hair style. Over her right shoulder she wore a shawl. The rest of her out fit was a lot like Helix's. It was an old fashion yet new ages look to them.

"H-hello." Ben stuttered blinking a bit.

She giggled again and took a few steps forward. Placing her hands on her knees she leaned over and spoke to him, "You're silly. Are you Princess's new suitor?"

"Suitor?" Ben blinked again trying to think, "Wait a minute. I'm sorry. I'm not a suitor. My name is Ben. Uhhh, you are?"

"I'm called Flower," the child announced, "If you aren't a suitor than what are you doing here?"

Ben stood up and dusted him self off before answering, "I'm gonna stay here and try to help find a suitor for Princess. I assume I'm gonna be here a while though so I figured I'd start by getting to know everyone first."

With a single bounce Flower hopped up next to him. Smiling she looked up at him with a sparkle in her big blue eyes.

"Really?!" She squeaked, "That's great cause we were all about to go have a group meeting. I bet Helix is gonna tell everyone about you." she giggled again then grabbed his arm, "Come on. I can show you where we were gonna meet."

She turned to go down the hall but stopped then returned to the main hall, "Chameleon! You've gotta come too. Helix said everyone."

Ben looked to see who she was talking to but did not see anyone. Without warning Flower pulled at his arm and took off down the hall. It was not much of a hall either. There was a door on either side of them. On the wall right in front of them were two windows side by side. It looked like there once had been a painting hung between them. Flower jerked his arm again and dragged him through the door on their right.

This room appeared to have been some kind of dinning room at one time. The left wall harbored a fire place that looked to no longer be usable. On the right wall were several stacks of wooden crates. A few of them were only stacked one or two high however. Some looked a bit beaten but for the most part they seemed remotely well taken care of. The wall in front of them was covered with a series of vertical windows like they had seen in the hall. Right in the middle of the room was a long table. The pair of legs closest to the fireplace was missing putting the table at a rather odd angle. Ben was amazed the table had not yet snapped in the middle.

Helix stood at the fallen end of the table. Ben noticed Crimzon sitting on a window sill across from them. Around the boxes and table stood and sat several other men. Ben counted nine of them that he did not yet know. Of the ones that cared they seemed to be confused as to seeing him dragged in by Flower. They all studied him.

Meanwhile Flower made conversation with the man right next to the door, "Chameleon how did you get here before us?"

The man just shrugged. Only his head rotated to look at her, "Don't look at me. Perhaps if you weren't so chatty you'd have been here first."

Chameleon was a small man it seemed. He was hunched over but seemed to also bend his knees a bit. From his posture it seemed this posture was something he could not help but continue doing. Ben noticed a strange looking box on the back of Chameleon's left shoulder. A metal chain came from either side of the box. One chain ran down his back and hung off his body making it look like a tail of sorts. The other chain warped down his left arm. At about his elbow it drooped over into a bag at his side. A flap over the top concealed its contents. As Chameleon looked at Flower Ben realized that the eyes of this lizard man went in two different directions. At any other moment Ben might have missed it. Seeing this attribute sent a chill down Ben's spine.

"Okay you two," Helix cut in before Flower could respond, "Before one of you gets out of hand. Well at least you brought him with you Flower since he's the reason we're here."

"Yup," Flower answered, "I was also going to introduce him to everyone as well."

"Fine," Helix grunted, "Ben you met Crimzon already. Apparently you've met Flower and Chameleon."

"Well kind of," Ben murmured as he scratched the back of his head.

"Well," Helix continued by acknowledging the others with a hand gesture, "Those you haven't met are Spine, Hammer, Eagle Eye, Bland, Cheph, Doc, Déjà vu, and that shadow in the corner is Fox. There is also Abaddon however he is not here. I believe he's still speaking with Princess."

Ben made sure to study the appearance of each subject as Helix spoke.

Spine was standing next to Chameleon against the wall with his arms crossed. One foot was up on the wall. He had a blue to green colored hair with a style that stuck a clump off the side of his head like a baseball cap. The clump of hair sticking out only covered his right ear a little bit. A brown vest was all that covered his bear chest. He hid his eyes behind a pair of ray bands that Ben actually thought were kind of cool.

Next was Hammer who sat with his legs crossed on the floor. Except for a leather strap over his right shoulder he also did not wear anything as a shirt. His muscles were huge. From the size of the man and his arms he looked like he could lift a whole car over his head. Hammer had a moustache like no other. It looked like something Ben had seen American Civil War troops wearing. Only it did not stop at the side burns. It went up over his head rounding his ears only to connect in the back and become a small pony tail of some kind. The rest of the giant man's head was bald.

Leaning against the stacked boxes in the corner was Eagle Eye. Long silver hair ran down his back. On top of his head was a cowboy hat. He had on a tunic that was a bit longer then Helix's. Ben saw it as a combination of Helix's tunic and Princess's poncho only without the hood. His hands were still very visible however. Over all he generally looked like a man from a western cowboy movie.

Standing straight up also with his arms folded was Bland. He sported a Buddhist monk sort of look. Only on his left shoulder he had a leather armor pad that jutted out. A dirty red clothe criss-crossed his chest to his sash. Connected to the sash was skirt like armor pads that Ben had only seen on old fashion Japanese warriors. He was completely bald.

Cheph like Hammer was a huge man. Only Cheph was more of a sumo wrestler than a cook as his name implied. Ben was kind of thankful Cheph wore the blue and white striped pants. Like a sumo wrestler's Cheph's hair was pulled back to the back of his head. He stood about seven feet tall and was almost as wide. It was hard to comprehend how his legs could support so much weight. Over his bare bulging torso he wore just a tiny blue vest.

Doc was just that. He was dressed all in white. On his nose sat a tiny pair of glasses. Nothing about him stood out. He was calm and did not appear to be fazed by the circumstances.

The next man scared Ben more than the others. He was bald and his eyes were covered by some sort of head band or mask. Ben couldn't determine which. It didn't have any eye holes for him to see through. Instead there was some kind of symbol on the cloth. It had an upside down tear drop. At the top of the image inside the tear drop was what looked like a rising or setting sun. What was supposed to be the ground bisected the sun right through the middle horizontally. Coming down from the center of the sun was a single line that went down to almost the bottom of the upside down tear. Three little rays of light came off the half circle. Around Déjà vu's neck was some kind of scarf or vestment. It was not tied around his neck so both ends simply dropped to just below his knees. The rest of his out fit was basically like Flower's and Helix's.

Finally there was the figure in the corner named Fox. He leaned against the wall in just the right spot so that as little light as possible would fall on him. This shadowy figure was dressed almost completely like a ninja. All his garments were black. Right down to the very combat boots that were tied like the sandals a ninja might wear. When the light did hit his hair it appeared to be a reddish brown. Yet the hair still cloaked by the shadow had almost a dark purple look. From what was visible his hair was spiked up and back making him look like an agitated animal. A black mask also covered his nose and mouth.

That brought Ben's gaze back to Crimzon who still sat on the window sill. As soon as she realized he was looking towards her again she smiled and waved. He wasn't sure how to respond so he didn't. Instead he returned his gaze back to Helix.

"Alright? Well now that you've met everyone," Helix acknowledged, "Everyone this is Ben Clover. I'm not sure why but princess has ordered we treat him no better or worse than we treat one another. So we are to treat him like one of her servants, one of us, rather than a suitor."

"Huh?" Crimzon stood up off the window sill, "When did this happen?"

"Princess said it right after you walked away Crimzon." Helix answered.

Ben didn't know why they were all so confused, "What's the big deal? Were you guys treating a suitor differently?"

"Yes," a deep voice answered from the hall. Ben turned as a man about as tall as Helix entered the room. His hair was a bluish with a purple tint to it. The style his hair was done in was much like Spine's. Only this man's clump of hair was much larger and over the front of his face. It covered his left eye completely. He wore a strange trench coat like vest. In the front it looked like a vest but in the back it extended out much like a trench coat or duster, even a cape perhaps. Other than those traits he too possessed the simple new medieval looking clothes most of the others wore.

"Abaddon?" Helix half announced half asked, "Are you done talking with Princess already?"

"No," He replied, "Actually she forgot to tell you something Helix. She wanted me to quickly come tell you that apparently Master Clover here is welcome to return to his schooling during the weekdays."

His words sparked everyone's attention. None of them could seem to figure out why. Helix however would eventually get the final word on the matter.

"So she's letting him go back into the public world after knowing all he does about us?" Helix confirmed.

"Yes apparently," Abaddon re-confirmed, "Of course he will have to return here everyday afterwards though. Make yourself comfortable young master. This is your new home."

With that Abaddon turned and exited via the double doors he had just come through. Helix called to him but Abaddon did not respond. Frustrated Helix pursued the creepy man through the doors as well. No one else was certain what to do next. Spine was the first to make a move. He pushed off the wall and dusted his palms.

"Well I guess that concludes the meeting then," he joked. He took a step over towards Ben and placed his hand on Ben's shoulder, "Well, Ben. Welcome to the rest of your miserable life."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter III – Blue Plate Special**

Ben made his way into the room they had designated as his. It was the room they had dragged him into before. It was in this room that he met Helix and heard the story of what happened to their small group.

There was plenty of room in it. Aside from his bed, a night stand and a wardrobe with no doors, the room was basically empty. The night stand next to his bed always had a flower on it. Since he had met Flower she had been constantly giving him flowers. When ever he asked her about it she would laugh then run off. So he assumed it must be some kind of childhood crush. He was still confused about where she had been getting them though being mid-autumn and on the side of a mountain.

It had been a few days since he had been introduced to everyone at the mansion. Most of the time thus far had been spent trying to find his way around the mansion. Flower had helped him with that for the most part. She even went as far as to explore some of the buildings around the estate as well. In learning the lay out, he discovered that a good chunk of the back wall was missing. The back left side of the main building had extensive damage. He was surprised that more of the building had not yet fallen because of it. The left wall was still intact however. So to anyone passing by the huge hole in the back was not visible. Whatever had caused the destruction had taken several of the rooms back there with it. The damage looked similar to a charred house after a fire. Not being an expert on fire damage though Ben couldn't be sure what had caused it. He just knew that it made for a handy back door.

Ben dropped his back pack on the floor next to the bed. Without a second thought then proceeded to collapse across the bed. It was large enough that his feet hung off the side while the rest of his body was on. Relieved to be relaxing for a moment he let out a sigh.

Football practice had really worn him out. There season was almost over so practices were beginning to become more intense. Being viewed as the most important member of the team made things all the more difficult. Many of the other players didn't like that most people saw him that way so they often gave him a hard time. However one line backer in particular was rather rough. This made him extremely exhausted after the walk up to his 'new home.'

Sliding his arms underneath Ben shifted so his head was on the pillow. He was starting to doze off when suddenly the door flew open and slammed against the wall. The racket alone surprised Ben but then Flower dashed in and threw herself into the air eventually landing with her knees on his back. His arms fired out from underneath the pillow in the rush of pain.

"Ben! Ben! Guess what?" She giggled as she bounced up and down on his back, further digging her knees into his spine.

"Ack, Flower…my back…" Ben groaned

Ignoring his plea she continued, "Me and Helix and Crimzon and Spine all went to visit your father and explain everything that was going on. And guess what? I got to play with your doggie. He's so cute. Why didn't you say you had a doggie? I didn't see him here before. You'll have to bring him some time. He's so cute!"

"Yea, real cute. At least until ya have to clean up after him." Ben mumbled, "Say, uh, Flower could you by any chance please get off my back?"

"Huh? Oh yea, sorry Ben."

Gleefully she gave a one last bounce for momentum then hoped off. She got off the bed and turned back to watch Ben who still lay there moaning. Placing her hands on her knees she leaned over to look at his grimacing face.

"Are you okay Ben?" She asked.

"Yea, peachy…" Ben replied sarcastically.

"I'm sorry," She responded.

"Don't worry, it wasn't you." He consoled.

"It wasn't? Then who?" she continued.

"Long story," he mumbled.

Planting her elbows on the side of the bed she dropped to her knees. She rested her head in the palms of her hands and watched Ben waiting for his story.

"Ugh. Okay," He sat up and crossed his legs. Realizing she wasn't going to leave he blinked a bit confused then gave a sigh and started to explain, "Well ya see there is this kid who I go to school with. His name is Ted. He's…well let's say he's big. Like Cheph. He tries to bully people. Only because of his size he kind of gets picked on too. The problem is that he is also on the football team with me. If you even know what football is? Well anyway, at the beginning of the season when we first started playing this year he started his attempts to pick on me. So I turned things around on him and humiliated him real bad. I later tried to apologize but he also happens to be really stubborn. So rather than sort out our problems, he'd rather just beat me up."

Ben sighed again.

"Well why don't you defend your self then? You know, fight back." Flower suggested.

"Are you kidding? This kid could probably give Cheph a hard time. He'd kill me. Literally if we gave him the chance I bet."

"So then just bring Cheph with you then. He could fight him for you."

"I couldn't do that. Cheph might actually kill him."

"Na-ah. Cheph doesn't like fighting. So he'd only kill someone if Princess told him too."

"Well that's the other thing. I doubt Princess would just let him go without question. But then if he tried to sneak out, he'd probably get caught and get in some major trouble. Regardless, I wouldn't want someone else to fight in my stead. It makes it look like I can't fight my own fights. So it's probably easiest for everyone if I just avoid him all together."

"Doesn't it make you look more like a coward doing that though?"

"Other people don't really see it that way until I fight him. Besides, it beats getting killed."

They both sat in silence for a moment. Flower sat staring at the bed covers, deep in thought. She was trying to come up with a solution for Ben's issue.

In the mean time the silence caused Ben to nod off again. His head nodded a bit then eventually his chin hit his chest in a full sleep. Shortly after, he started up with some muffled snores. The noise made Flower giggle a bit.

"Don't worry Ben," She assured him as she gave him a poke. The insignificant amount of force was enough to make him lean. Eventually his leaning made him fall back to the pillow, still asleep.

The following day went about as normal as any. All of Ben's classes had little to no interruptions aside from Annette, but for the most part were no different from any other. As the day progressed more and more people began to give him worried looks. A few people would whisper things while looking at him. He assumed it was probably about something outrageous that Annette was going to attempt. For all he knew she had started a rumor about him. Again, it was not really anything new so he just ignored the looks and whispers.

By lunch almost everyone was giving him looks and was whispering about him. Being lunch time, a time to relax he still was not going to worry about it.

He made his way to where he normally sat. Today he had beaten Brendan and Angela to the table. So he sat by himself for a moment. He noticed he was alone aside from a few band members at the other end of the table. They all gave him concerned looks. Politely he gave a wave to them causing one to panic and another to get up and move to another table. Seeing the band members scramble to a safer location away from him he realized that whatever it was that was going on it was not so normal. He even began to debate if it even had to do with Annette at all.

Brendan quickly appeared and took up a seat across from Ben. Even Brendan had a concerned look on his face but he just looked at him like he was crazy. He didn't say anything.

Ben finally spoke up, "What?"

"Ben, are you crazy?" Brendan snapped then turned to drop his back pack to the floor.

"Last time I checked, no." Ben remarked, "Why? What is going on now?"

"Are you serious?!" Brendan leaned in and kept his voice to a whisper, "Dude, didn't you challenge Ted to some kind of fight? That's what is going on ya dumb ass."

Brendan's words felt like someone had just hurled a ton of bricks into Ben's stomach. Suddenly he felt ready to vomit.

"N-no…" The stuttered words made him realize he was now trembling. His sweat glands had already jumped into full gear as beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"You didn't?" Brendan looked at him completely confused. Ben's thought's drifted back to the conversation he had with Flower the day before. Brendan continued, "If you didn't then who? Because someone apparently slipped a note in his locker with the challenge. It had your name on it. Word has it that it was even your hand writing. But forged or not Ted thinks it's real and so does everyone else. So what are you gonna do? I mean ya can't fight him. He'd kill you, literally."

"Yea but I can't not fight him either." Ben was completely shaking, not just trembling, "I mean as much as I don't care about reputation, I can't back out of a fight like this. Especially now that everyone knows about it. Damn it why didn't someone tell me. I thought it was something Annette was going to do. I didn't think it was going to be this. Shit."

"Well it isn't Annette." Brendan responded, "So what are ya gonna do? I mean ya know what they say, 'He who runs away lives to fight another day.'"

"Yea…right." Ben's head dropped to the tray of food.

"Ben," Angela stepped in and sat next to Brendan, "You have no idea how excited I am to see you whip his ass. I'm so proud to have you as my friend."

Both of the guys shot her surprised looks. Clearly she did not grasp the seriousness of the problem at hand.

"I am SO glad someone is finally gonna give that lard ass what he deserves," She slapped a fist into her open palm, "And he's gonna get it good too. Right? I mean he is always picking on the band and debate team and just about anyone weaker than him. And you are all about justice and what not, right? So of course you're gonna give it to him real bad. Then at the same time it brings a tear to my eye knowing that someone is willing to stick up for those who can't defend themselves. Especially someone as popular as you Ben. Your whole reputation rides on this. Doesn't it?"

Brendan reached up and pulled her head under his arm. The sudden jerk made her yelp in surprise.

"Angela," He explained, "You do know we are talking about Ted Riley her right? This kid could palm Ben's head then crush it with the same hand."

Ben's shoulders slumped down as the realization of how true it was came to light.

"Give me break," She pushed away from Brendan and fixed her hair, "Ben's a receiver. He is so freaking fast that Ted wouldn't be able to get a hold of him. Ben's gonna be able to run circles around him. Just keep hitting him and eventually you'll wear him down. Easy."

"Easier said than done," Ben mumbled.

"Huh? Now wait a minute, you're not going to chicken out are you?" she barked. Ben just tried to avert his eyes, "YOU ARE!? Ben I'm on the debate team, I'm one of the people he gives a hard time to. I've tried to stand up to him and failed miserably. You aren't going to abandon even me are you? Do you even know some of the things he's done to us?"

Ben knew she was on the debate team, so he heard the horror stories all the time. Ted was like that. He would go after the ones who were stereo typed as weaklings. Once he had them sorted out he would intimidate the ones who would pose as a problem so he could pick on them as well. No one was sure why he did it. Ben figured it was problems at home. When ever Ben had seen Ted's parents at practice it was to criticize him and make his life more difficult. Ben had only ever seen them a few times. They never came to the games and rarely came to pick him up for practice.

Both Ben and Brendan remained silent. They new she was right yet knew they couldn't do a thing about it.

"I can't believe you," Angela snapped, "If you are going to wussy out then why did you bother to even challenge him?"

"I didn't," Ben stated sternly, "Someone set me up. I didn't want to fight him. Never have. Wanna know why? Because I'd lose that's why. You haven't seen him at practice. He has caught me. He's even thrown me around like some kind of rag doll. What's worse is that he already doesn't like me. I humiliated him in front of the whole team and he still resents me for it. And he won't listen to my apologies. He simply wants to beat my face in. All he needs is a reason."

"Okay," Angela thought a moment, "So basically after this he's going to hunt you down for the rest of your life anyway. So why don't you at least try to make a deal with him or something? Ya know, say that you'll agree to fight him if he leaves everyone alone."

"Yea but what if Ben loses?" Brendan chimed in.

"That's his problem." Angela turned and folded her arms, "If Ben wins then Ted leaves him alone. If Ted wins then…well, Ben is dead. But Ted doesn't even get a fight if he doesn't promise to leave us alone."

"Thanks," Ben slumped again. None of it sat well with him but he did agree that it was worth it. He didn't it was worth the risk of his life though. He could take a beating, but death was another story. If it wasn't for the fact that Ted would literally try to kill him he probably would agree to try.

"Look, Angela." Ben started, "I do agree that it is worth a try but –"

"Then you'll do it!?" She jumped up in excitement.

"NO! I didn't say that!" Ben cried waving his hands at her to sit down. It was too late however as she was already up on the table.

"Alright!" She completely blew him off. "Everyone listen up!" she began shouting, "Ben Clover here just told me he is gonna kick the shit out of Ted Riley so that he'll leave everyone alone."

The announcement sent the cafeteria into an up roar of celebration. Food and trays got tossed in the air as teachers and cafeteria aids scrambled to subdue the pandemonium. Brendan glanced over to Ben who had melted to a puddle on the floor under the table.

The rest of the day was spent keeping an eye over his shoulder and just keeping an eye out for Ted to avoid him. Ben was thankful that he didn't have any classes with him. Everyone was wishing him luck and was rooting him on, but none of them seemed to comprehend that he might not be in school for the rest of the year. By the end of the day he was so nervous he almost felt sick.

Eventually he had made it to the last class of the day with no sign of Ted. The instant the final bell rang Ben made a full sprint for his locker. He hoped that if he could get to his locker and get out with no confrontations with Ted then they would never be able to set a time or place to fight. Then if Ted tried to fight him later he could then use the excuse that it was only a challenge for one day and that Ted missed his chance. If he could do that it would also protect his reputation some by telling people that Ted never showed up. However this was all suggesting that Ted didn't catch up to him before he got home and trying to talk him out of fight was like trying to convince a fish to live on land.

Ben's locker looked clear. It didn't look like Ted was there yet. Ben just grabbed what he needed from the locker and didn't worry about the extra weight of what he didn't need. Quickly slamming it shut he turned to run again. If he could just get home he'd be safe.

He started running before actually looking where he was going and ended up running head long into a brick wall of gelatos gut. Slowly he looked up knowing full well who it was going to be. It was like looking into the face of the grim reaper.

"Hi Ben." Ted smirked.

Ted stood about seven feet tall and a few hundred pounds. He was a monster compared to most of the other students. It was believed that he might have failed a grade or two before high school. All Ben knew was that he was now getting a football scholarship for being a line backer.

A huge hand wrapped itself around the back of Ben's neck. Ben seemed to peel off as Ted pulled him away from him.

"Uh, ah, h-hi Ted." Ben stuttered, "Hey listen I got this great idea, how about we talk about it okay?"

"Sure Ben Dover." Ted mocked. "How about we meet at the basketball courts around eight? We can talk all ya want then."

"Hey now I said before its Clover," Ben snapped, "But anyway, ya see that's the thing. I've got this problem –"

"Good, good." Ted interrupted him with a slap on the back. "Then I'll see ya around eight. Okay Ben Dover? Oh, you'll prolly want to bring a coffin with ya."

With another heavy slap on the back Ted strutted away down the hall.

"It's Clover!" Ben screamed at him. "Dumb ass."

Everyone watched as the hall fell silent. Ben gave a sigh as the instrument of his demise disappeared from sight. In the mean time Ben, still standing in the middle of the hall let his shoulders slump as he gave a sigh of despair. He pitifully cried as he made his way out.

Crimzon shut the reception room door behind her after finishing an easy make meal Ben had brought a few days earlier. She was still a bit hungry but it was nothing new. They were all often left a bit hungry from time to time, but this meal was filling enough to satisfy her. Under order from Princess they had to ration all the food they could anyway. After her meal she figured she could just take a nap for a bit.

She yawned and started to make her way towards the main lobby. The hall she was down only had the two doors, the one she had come out of and across from that was the one that led to the huge mess of a back room. Behind her was just a window and at the end of the short hall was the main lobby.

Still yawning she started stretching her arms above her head. The tension of released anxiety made her shut her eyes as she did. It was just a resting reaction and didn't really make any difference, it just helped her relax. Just before re-opening them she heard the squeal of the main doors in the lobby. Opening her eyes she saw Ben come flying around the corner. A huge plume of dust trailed behind him as he shot past her in a dead sprint. He shot past her like a bullet practically pulling her over with the rush of air that he created. Her hair blew around in the whirlwind.

Directly on his heels was the dust cloud. It quickly enveloped Crimzon then dissipated as Ben made his way past her. Crimzon was left standing in the hall covered in dust. Looking around she tried to grasp what had just happened.

Ben knew it was Flower that had rigged his almost certain demise. It was a long shot but he hoped that if maybe he could get her to explain herself to Ted that maybe there would be no fight at all. He knew it had to be Flower because she was the only one he had told about it that would doom him in such a way.

Quickly Ben made his way through the door across from the reception hall. The door led to a room that had been demolished by something in past years. A huge gaping hole opened to the back yard. The door on the right wall led to more rooms with similar issues. Those rooms were even worse than the one Ben was standing in, because the doors between each of the rooms had been smashed down. So essentially it had become one big room with a pillar in the middle where the corners of the four rooms met. The two outer most rooms also opened to the back yard. The one was worse than the other, but all four rooms looked uninhabitable anyway. From the front of the mansion the damage was completely masked. Even going around the left side of the building wasn't enough because for whatever reason the whole left side of the building was completely unscathed. Of course if it wasn't for that wall the second and third floor would likely come crashing down in back left corner of the facility. What ever had caused the destruction was still a mystery however. It didn't matter to Ben though because the massive hole made for a convenient back door.

Flower was often in the back yard finding something to entertain her self with. So he figured that she was likely back there still. He was just cutting through the house.

No more than two into the room and Ben had slammed into another wall of stomach. He toppled backward.

"Ugh. Not again." He uttered but then looked up to realize it was Cheph.

"Hello Ben. Is something wrong?" Cheph's deep voice greeted. As deep as his voice was, it was still rather friendly for how intimidating he could likely make it.

Ben hopped to his feet, "Well it's complicated. Do you know where Flower is?"

Cheph shook his head, "Sorry. Flower just told Cheph tat she was going to watch Ben fight someone. Is Ben's fight over already?"

Ben stopped a moment. It had just dawned on him that this was the first time he had ever spoken with Cheph. He was usually busy in their make-shift kitchen on the other side of the building.

"Cheph, are you speaking in the third person?" Ben pondered.

Cheph looked around, "Where is there a third person speaking?"

"Never mind," Ben wasn't about to ask any further, "Well I just need to find Flower. She has gotten me into a mess that I can't get out of. And unless I find her soon I'm mince-meat."

"Cheph can help. Cheph is good with mince-meat." The plump man responded.

"Not what I meant!" Ben shouted, "But I suppose you can help anyway. Maybe you can help me find her. If we don't find her I'm gonna have to fight this kid who is almost as big as you Cheph."

Cheph just looked at him as though it was nothing special.

"Look lets just go to where I'm suppose to meet the guy and we'll look for her there okay?"

Cheph nodded.

The pair trotted back to the school grounds to where Ted was going to showing up at soon. They had to hurry and Ben was afraid that the trip might wear Cheph out. To Ben's surprise Cheph kept up extremely well. So much so that by the time they arrived at the basket ball courts Ben was out of breathe and Cheph was ahead of him.

As they approached Ben leaned his head back to catch his breathe. Looking at the sky however prevented him from realizing Cheph had stopped walking. He slammed into Cheph's back. After a moment he toppled backwards. Of course the impact did not even register to larger man.

"Ugh, why does this happen to me?" Ben twitched then sat up, "Cheph, why did you stop like that?"

Cheph stepped aside and pointed ahead. A few feet in front of them were the basket ball courts. Standing under one of the nets was Ted Riley. He had changed into his football gear.

"T-Ted?" Ben stood up, "You're early."

"Oh I couldn't wait to beat your face in." Ted announced, "Whose yer friend?"

"Oh, this is Cheph," introduced Ben, "He's, uh, he's here to drag my body away. Ya know, the coffin was just too heavy and all."

"Cheph can carry a coffin." Cheph commented, "But why does Ben need a coffin?"

"Cause I'm gonna kill him!" Ted laughed.

"Cheph won't let harm come to Ben." Cheph stepped in front of Ben again.

"Hey, Fatso this fight is between me and Ben. You have to wait your turn." Ted snapped.

"He's right Cheph." Ben agreed, not that he wanted to.

"But why does he wish to hurt Ben?" Cheph pondered.

"My name is Ted you retard," He hollered. "And I'm gonna kill him cause he turned me into a fucking laughing stock among the football team. Then of course from there it got all over the school then all over town. My life was hard enough as it was with out Ben Dover here making things worse."

"It's Clover." Ben mumbled, "Ted listen, can we at least make a deal here? I'll fight you if you promise to stop picking on everyone. If I win the fight then you leave me alone. If you win… well you get what you wanted."

"Fine," Ted began taking steps forward but Cheph got in the way again.

"Cheph make deal too." He announced, "Ted fights Cheph. If Ted wins he can fight Ben. If Cheph wins Ted goes home and leaves everyone alone from now on."

"You dumb ass," barked Ted, "I don't know who you are or where you came from but if you don't get out of my way I'm gonna kill you too."

Cheph spread his legs in a combat ready stance and put his hands up ready for the fight.

"Your funeral," Ted bull rushed towards him. His hands were up and open ready to grab him and throw him. Cheph simply mimicked the assault. Their palms met in a load slap as the two large men began pushing at one another. Cheph did not seem to struggle at all. He held his position and posture with no problems. Ted was pushing as hard as he could and wasn't moving Cheph at all.

"So much hate and anger." Cheph spoke, "Ted should re-look at his life. Being nice gets him more respect than always threatening. Problems take care of themselves when someone is nice."

"Shut up!" Ted screamed.

He brought his right foot up to kick but Cheph gave a push and Ted fell backwards. Ted quickly rolled and got to his feet. Immediately Ted began his rush again. This time Ted planted his shoulder into Cheph's stomach. Again, Cheph held him in place.

"Actions may speak louder than words but there are some problems that only words can solve." Cheph continued.

"I said shut up!" All the sudden the air seemed to get heavy. Ben felt like gravity it self had shifted. Immediately following the air becoming thicker Ted suddenly wrapped his arms around Cheph's waist and picked him up. He twisted a bit then hurled Cheph over to a patch of land that was nice and flat.

Some how Cheph was able to flip in mid air and land on his feet still facing Ted. Still enraged Ted rushed again this time repeating the previous open handed grab. Again Cheph caught the attack the same as before. This time however this time Ted was actually moving Cheph. Not because Cheph was weaker but because the dirt under his feet was causing him to slide. With each step Ted left huge foot sized craters in the ground.

This time Cheph let his right leg drop down so that he could get his hand underneath Ted. Cheph then lifted Ted up over his head. He held him there as Ted wasn't sure what to do.

"Cheph does not know why Ted fights, but Cheph does not wish to harm Ted." He announced, "Does Ted surrender?"

"You stupid," Ted muttered, "I'll be damned if a dumb ass like you will beat me."

With that Ted let out another bellow and the air seemed to thicken more. Ben was short of breathe because of it. Around Cheph's feet the ground shattered into a spherical crater. The burst of energy came as a surprise to each of them.

It ended abruptly as Cheph slammed Ted head first into the ground. Ted wasn't done yet though. He kicked with both feet at Cheph who jumped back to avoid any risk of a pair of cleats to his face. The kick also gave Ted the momentum to roll to his feet but with his back to Cheph. He quickly turned to face him though.

Before he could do anything Cheph kicked off of the ground and seemed to fly across the surface of the ground. He landed a fist deep into Ted's stomach. He then spun so his back was against Ted. With Ted's chin on his shoulder, Cheph reached up and grabbed the back of his head. Then with one fluid motion flipped Ted over his should, planting him flat on his back. The impact left an imprint in the ground of Ted's body. Ted's eyes were wide from the pain of the impact but quickly relaxed and rolled into the back of his head as he passed out.

Cheph checked his pulse and nodded, indicating he was alive and okay. Ben was relieved. The air had also returned to normal.

They moved Ted's unconscious body to his car where they placed him in the driver's seat. Hopefully anyone passing by would think he just fell asleep before he got the car turned on. After that they began making their way home.

The walk was pretty quiet for the most part. Ben thanked Cheph for the help, but both were pretty concerned about what the strange energy was. They were both also trying to come up with different theories.

Eventually they got back to the mansion where Princess was waiting at the front door. Cheph gulped as they approached.

"Cheph, where have you been?" she demanded.

"He was helping me with something." Ben answered.

"I didn't ask you." she snapped, "Now answer me."

Cheph stood with his head down. He didn't say anything.

"Fine, then get in there and make dinner than." Princess turned to leave.

"Wait a minute." Ben jumped forward. She stopped and turned to him. "What's the problem? He didn't do anything wrong. Is dinner really that important?"

"Ben." Cheph started.

She turned and began walking for the door again, ignoring him.

"Hey, I said wait." Ben run up and cut in front of her. He was right against the door, but made sure she didn't get past him. "You didn't answer me. What is so wrong? You told me that things like them helping me with something is fine so long as we don't draw any attention to us. Well we didn't so what's the problem?"

Suddenly Princess' Dagger was hurled at him. He was able to step back enough to just barely miss getting the full blade to his face. It planted itself deep into the wood of the door. As if on a delayed reaction his cheek started to bleed. Even though the dagger had hit him directly, it had still managed to get a scratch across his left cheek.

Princess still stood with her hand out stretched from throwing the blade. She looked confused however. Quickly she regained her composure then approached Ben, pinning him against the door with the dagger sticking out right next to his head. Getting right up in his face she yanked the knife out of the door.

"Never talk back to me. Understand?" Ordered Princess, "Next time I won't miss." She stepped back, "Cheph. Dinner!"

Immediately she made her way back inside stopping only a moment to glance back at Ben. He wasn't sure if she was watching him or glaring at him.

Cheph began to slowly make his way in as well. Ben stepped in his way as well.

"Cheph, why didn't you say something?" he inquired, "You know as well as I do that you didn't do anything wrong. She had no right to yell at you just because you were late for making dinner."

"Ben." Flower's voice came from down the path.

"You!" Ben pointed at her, "We need to talk!"

"I know," She agreed, "but just don't question Cheph okay?"

"Huh?" Ben looked up at him.

"Cheph isn't a very good Chef." He stated, "After the curse Cheph could not remember any of his recipes. So his cooking wasn't very good. Princess still ate the food he made when no one else would. Even now, no one else eats Cheph's food. As long as Cheph does what Princess says than she will eat his food. At least that's how Cheph sees it."

"But couldn't you just learn some new recipes?" suggested Ben.

"Cheph did try, but they were still not very good because they were not Cheph's recipes. They were others'. It may not seem understandable to Ben, but it is why Cheph is so loyal and why Princess has not abandoned Cheph."

With nothing more to say, Cheph went inside. Ben was still uneasy about it but he decided he was going to respect Cheph.

"Cheph is nice, but he has a hard time understanding things." Flower explained, "When there were still a lot of us Cheph was picked on a lot because he didn't like fighting. I don't either but that's why he doesn't use any weapons."

"Yea." Ben thought for a moment, "Wait a minute!"

Flower realized that he was about to turn on her now. Before he could say anything else she took off for the woods.

"Wait a minute you!" he shouted as he took off after the giggling girl.

From a third story window Princess and Helix watched them run off. She held the dagger in her hand. Helix noticed she was studying it confused. He looked down at it from his spot and noticed a trace about of blood on the blade.

"Is that from Ben?" he asked.

"He has no training. It confuses me how he was able to dodge it." She explained.

"But?" Helix continued.

"The assassin told me when she gave me this blade, 'no one cut by this blade survives.' So why is he still alive?"

"Well maybe it will kill him later." He suggested.

"Helix," she turned to him. "I've not told any of you this and I trust you won't tell anyone else either."

"Sure." He confirmed.

"The reason the assassin gave me the blade was because it cut me. That's why my face was bandaged when we first woke up. It was the last thing I remember before I blacked out as well. So then if what you say is possible then…"

She held it up more and looked down at it with concern. Helix could not see her eyes but some how he could tell that she was afraid of the weapon she had been using for so long. He thought about it and realized she was right. There wasn't a moment he could remember that that dagger did not kill someone with the first stroke. Cuts that would not appear fatal would leave some bleeding profusely. There wasn't one instance he could think of that that knife's cut didn't kill someone within minutes.

"Well maybe it is laced with some kind of poison that you and him are immune to." He shrugged then turned his attention back to the window.

"For over a hundred years, and then some?"

"Good point. I guess the poison would have dried up or something. Who knows, either way from the way I see it you're alive now. I wouldn't worry about it."

She put the dagger away then turned and started to walk away, "I suppose so."

He looked back up at her. As soon as she was out of ear shot he turned back to the window, "Yea. Don't need to worry……yet."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter IV – Nothing Special**

Ben poked his head into the huge double doors. Inside the main hall was as lit as it ever was. He looked around and didn't see anyone but was willing to bet that someone probably was.

"Hello?" Ben called. Of course, no one answered.

Stepping in he put Toby down on the floor. He had carried the animal from the road. The fuzzy creature was still drastically frightened of the building. On the ground now he sniffed around a bit but did not stray far from Ben's side.

Still frightened it followed Ben around to the left hallway. Ben made his way to the 'back door.' Past the rumble of the back rooms he appeared in the back yard. Against a small section of still standing rubble Déjà vu sat off to Ben's right. It appeared that he was meditating. There was no real way for Ben to really tell because Déjà vu's eyes were covered. In the yard Bland also meditated. His form of meditation was rather unique.

A huge spear had been stabbed blade down into the ground. At the other end, Bland 'sat' on the dull tip that stuck up in the air. He had positioned the pole of the weapon between the bottoms of each of his feet. To stay above the rod he was pressing his feet together as much as possible so that he would not slide. It was clear that if he did slide or fall more than a foot he would have quite a rude awakening. Like a statue however Bland didn't flinch. It astonished Ben how he could hold himself up so well and long yet still maintain a sense of balance as well.

"Toby!" Flower's voice screamed as she darted out from a path obscured by shrubs. The dog gave a greeting woof then darted to meet her. "Ha ha. Come on Toby, come look what I made."

"Keep an eye on him Flower." Ben called even though the pair vanished into the shrubs without stopping to care. After the morning Ben told her about Ted, Ben had decided that he would bring Toby with him every now and then for her to play with him.

"Its good to hear her having fun." Déjà vu noted. Startled Ben turned to face him, "Come here, let's talk."

Ben made his way over after giving another glance to the unreal sight of Bland on top of the spear.

"Incredible yes?" Déjà vu asked, "Would you like to try?"

"Me?" Ben jumped back a bit, "H-hell no. I was just, I mean. Well it's just so-"

"Difficult." Déjà vu finished. "It's all he ever does, so he is quite good at it by now."

"I bet." Ben agreed as he sat down next to blind man. "So…what do ya want to talk about?"

Déjà vu thought a moment, "I understand you are curious about us yes?"

"Well yea but--"

Déjà vu held up a hand to cut him off. "It's probably better that you just let it go. Many of us don't take kindly to outsiders. Abaddon for example. It doesn't matter if they want to help us. There are just things that a number of us that don't feel like expressing. All I can say is if someone decides that they want to tell you things then they will tell you when they are ready. It isn't very good to just pry into such matters. We don't even pry to one another. For example Fox doesn't say much. It is rare that he speaks. We don't ask him why. None of us inquire to one another as to why we still support Princess either. Do you understand all this?"

Ben gulped, "Yes sir."

Déjà vu chuckled, "Relax. I'm not upset or angry I just wanted to give you a far warning. What you get yourself into you cannot expect us to necessarily help you with."

"I understand," Ben wasn't really sure what he should say other than that.

Bland spoke from atop his spear, "You must understand Ben that Déjà vu can see things that others cannot."

"Like what?" Ben pondered.

Bland quickly slide one foot to the top of the pole and kicked off of it before he lost too much of his balance. With a front flip he landed on his feet. He stretched his arms and planted himself across from Ben who still sat next to Déjà vu.

"It's a long story," Bland rubbed his bald head and leaned back, "It isn't a pleasant one either. Especially for him. Mind if I tell him?" Déjà vu nodded and shrugged, "Well from what we understand, as a boy he had some kind of power to predict the future. While we aren't sure of the details, what we do know is that somewhere along the lines as he tried to change these events he saw the people he lived with began to fear him. They didn't want to hear of his visions. So some moron got the idea that he would not be able to see the future if he cannot see at all."

Déjà vu pulled the cloth off of his head, exposing his eyes. Ben almost threw up at the site. Where his eyes should have been was a pair of brown holes. Déjà vu quickly slipped the cloth back over his eyes. Ben was still awe struck by the site.

"They burned his eyes out." Bland stated the obvious, "Needless to say the visions didn't stop. Only now he was crippled and outcast by the village. Exiled too at some point. We guess from there the lord Princess's father found him and took him in. Probably to abuse his power of prediction."

"Wait hang on a second." Ben cut in, "How do you know this is true? Helix told me you didn't remember anything from before the curse hit."

"At some point after we ran into a woman that claimed to be my sister," Déjà vu answered, "She wanted to help after she found out she had an older brother she never met. Apparently my powers brought difficulties for the rest of my family. Before my parents passed they told her to seek me out. She then found me and was willing to help all of us. She brought us back to the village where we had lived. It was a mistake. The villagers had gotten wind of the uprising against Princess's father and didn't want us any where near them. We stayed for a bit until the rebels caught up with us. Of course with my power which was only increased by the curse we set up a flawless ambush. The local villagers didn't enjoy that idea too much and killed my sister in an argument while we were busy."

"Needless to say," Bland said, "That village wasn't on the map anymore after we found out. Princess ordered the complete and utter annihilation of the whole village and anyone in it."

"Yes well," Déjà vu continued, "After that I didn't have much of a reason to go anywhere else. So now you know why I've stuck by Princess. Not of necessity, but just because she's really all I have left. Bland here on the other hand is just too much of a coward to leave."

Bland playfully punched Déjà vu in the shoulder, "Wow, the cripple makes a joke. It isn't true of course. I just don't have a reason to leave either. Granted I don't have a reason to stay but from the way I see it I am here now, helping Princess, so why should I go do anything else until I'm finished here. Besides that where else could I find a better group of people hone my weapon skills?"

"Well haven't you ever wanted to live among the public people?" Ben inquired.

"Eh," Bland grimaced a bit, "We mingle with people enough as it is. At least enough for my liking anyway. We get by as assassins after all."

Just then Toby darted out from behind the bushes. Flower followed though out of breathe and in a slow trot. Once clear of the bushes she stopped to catch her breathe. They each watched her. Bland looked back to Ben. Clearly Ben was trying to picture Flower trying to take another person's life. She was a child. It was difficult picturing someone so gentle and innocent being so heartless.

Bland answered Ben's thoughts, "Yes. Her too."

"Yea…" Ben mumbled.

Flower trotted over and began to plead with Ben to come play a game with her. He didn't have much of a choice as she grabbed his arm and dragged him along with more strength then Ben expected. Of course Toby followed in foot. He jumped and yapped for attention the whole way.

"Bland" Déjà vu turned to him, "I want to know your opinion of him."

"Me?" Bland chuckled, "You're the one that can see the future. What do you need my opinion for? But if you really want to know I guess all I can say is that he can't really make things any worse. Why you ask anyway?"

Déjà vu shook his head, "A vision but I didn't understand it. It was…blurry. As if I was seeing ten thousand different futures all in a matter of seconds. There were images but I couldn't see any of them. As if I had seen the future of every individual person in town. Bland I think there is a storm coming."

"Ben!" Brendan hollered from across the cafeteria. Ben took his tray over and planted himself next to Brendan, "Hey man what's up?"

"Uhhh, nothing." Ben wasn't really sure how to respond. Brendan didn't usually make a greeting like that.

"Not what I mean." Brendan went on, "I've wanted to ask you about it but I just never got around to it. Apparently there are rumors floating around that you don't go home anymore. I called yesterday and no one answered. What's goin' on dude?"

"Really?" Ben tried to act as though it was nothing special, "And just who has said all this?"

"Everyone more or less. From what I understand though Annette hasn't heard. Which is a surprise when ya think about it. Normally she's the one to start rumors. Its rare she hasn't heard of one." Brendan's attention suddenly shifted away after he was done speaking.

"Well thank God." Ben slumped a bit then began eating.

"Yea well don't look now." Brendan pointed over Ben's shoulder then turned to his lunch to avoid a conversation with her. Annette approached Ben as usual. The tactic today was apparently to try a different hair style. It was down for the most part the way she usually wore it but she had two clips in the back making pig tails of some kind. The hair was still loose however and just kind of blended with the rest of her hair.

She planted herself behind Ben then lay on his back making sure her breasts were firmly planted against the back of his head. She let her arms drape down. Gently placing her chin on his head, she greeted him.

"Hi Ben. How are you this morning?"

"Technically its afternoon now." Ben corrected.

"Oh yea. So it is." She giggled then slid down his back a bit and placed her chin on his shoulder. Sliding down pulled her shirt up enough that her stomach was clearly showing. Brendan was the only one to notice. He remained focused on his meal but his eyes still drifted over to see every so often.

"Well I was wondering," she continued, "There's gonna be this really romantic movie on tonight. Annnd my parents are going out. So I was wondering if you'd want to come over. Come on, what do you say?"

Ben grunted as she began tracing random shapes on his back with her finger, "Sorry. Big game this weekend. I need to rest up."

"Well I'm the cheerleading captain, I need to rest too. I know we could rest up together."

The comment made Ben spit out the milk he was drinking all over his hand. Before he could actually say anything however Angela dropped a tray on Annette's head.

"Opps, sorry. Excuse me miss too stupid to pay attention to her over exposure." Angela grunted. She then squeezed past Annette to get at the seat next to Brendan.

Annette glared back at Angela, "Oh my apologies. I didn't realize there wasn't enough room for your overly wide hips of yours." She half laughed out her insult.

"What was that!?" Angela was about to slam the tray on Annette's head again but Brendan grabbed her arms to prevent the assault. The food on her tray all fell on his head though.

Across the room sat the football team's star quarterback watching the event unfold. Chad was jealous and couldn't stand watching Annette flaunt over a relative nobody. The frustration was killing him. Chad wanted Annette as badly as she wanted Ben.

"That damn prick." Chad crushed the pint sized empty milk carton, "Who does he think he is?"

"He's probably just turning her down all the time because of things like that." Mark half joked while he leaned on the table with his elbow, "I mean seriously how many of us get even half as close to touching her as he does?"

"Well there's that or he's just gay." Andrew added.

Mark and Andrew had been dubbed by many to be Chad's lackeys or henchmen. They were the two notorious for doing Chad's dirty work. Often described as a pair of giggling hyenas, they more or less worked for Chad. In a way Chad ran the school. He got what he wanted. Mark and Andrew were usually the ones to get it for him. Annette of course was the one thing none of them could get.

"Shut up you two." Chad ordered.

"Okay okay. Geez relax man." Mark suggested as he sat up. "I mean it isn't like he's gonna be changing his mind anytime soon. And you and Annette have already decided to go to prom together. So w—"

"Yea and!?" Chad snapped, "If he does decide to go with her she'll ditch me real quick. Prom isn't for a few months yet. That's still plenty of time for him to change his mind. If only I could figure out what is so freaking great about him."

"Yea, wouldn't it be great if you could just kill him?" Andrew remarked while cleaning out his left ear with his pinky.

Chad shuddered a bit then whirled around to hurl the crushed milk carton at him. Andrew braced for the hit but it never came. Chad had spotted something behind his cringing lackey. Mark and Andrew turned to see what Chad was looking at.

He was looking towards the group of kids that had been labeled the juvies. They were the trouble makers. A few of them had gone to juvenile detention centers. The more dangerous ones were the ones that had done the same deeds but didn't get caught. No one was sure if any of them had gone as far as murder, but Chad was willing to find out.

"Hell no." Mark jumped.

"Dude I was only joking." Andrew announced half pleading knowing he'd likely be the one to go talk to them.

"Mark," Chad acknowledged with a vicious grin on his face. "We'll need an appointment."

The next few days had gone pretty routine. Ben had gone through the days with little more than homework to worry about. Annette had left him alone for the most part. Their game had them both pretty occupied. Ben had noticed that Ted had become less insulting. Not completely but he seemed to stop and think about what he was going to say before saying it more than he had in the past.

Ben had started taking paths through the woods to reach the mansion. He didn't want to risk someone following him and he wanted to at least make it so that he could lose them if they tried.

Over the last few days Ben had stopped to make conversation with Bland and Déjà vu. Doc had even stopped in one day. Ben wanted to learn more about them but they had managed to learn more about him than he did of them.

Ben dropped down to the ground next to Déjà vu with a grunt.

"No Bland today?" Ben pondered.

"He'll be back shortly." Déjà vu explained, "He went to take care of something. You'll have to introduce us to your friends though."

"Huh?" Ben realized that someone had likely followed him.

Moments later five people scrambled from the near by woods. Ben recognized them as the five of the juveniles from school. He didn't know what they were up to but he was worried about what might happen to them now that they were discovered. Each brandished a different weapon as well. Only one actually had a hand gun though Ben still thought it was one too many.

From the tree tops Bland flung himself out in front of the apparently frightened teenagers. He landed perfectly between the two parties.

"Well I didn't think they'd be that afraid of me." Bland mumbled as he scratched his head in confusion.

"What might you gentlemen want here?" Déjà vu inquired as he stood up.

"Look we are only here for Ben Dover there." The apparent leader informed.

"Its Clover damn it!" Ben shouted.

"Well then," Bland turned a bit enough to see Ben, "Who might hire out a group of thugs to attack you Ben?"

"I- Don't look at me. How should I know?" Ben stammered.

"Well they are armed," Déjà vu pointed out, "And they have seen us where they shouldn't have. That begs the question what will we do with them?"

"Good question," Bland turned back to the intruders, "They don't look very capable in combat but more importantly they have made them selves a liability."

"Now hold up," again the leader broke in, "I don't know you and you don't know me but don't think for a moment you can underestimate me."

With out thinking four of the five rushed towards Bland. In a flash Bland hand slammed his left foot on the ground. The impact revealed his spear buried in the dirt as it sprang into the air from his stepping on the blade. Just as quickly Bland had reached out, caught it then proceeded to swing it with enough force that the wind itself knocked the Juvies to the ground. The fifth with the small hand gun let off a round that was met with a second swing. The bullet had been deflected into the dirt at the gunman's feet. There was minimal amount of steam coming from the spot on Bland's spear where the bullet and blade had clashed.

Déjà vu stepped up next to Ben, "I assume you handle this appropriately?"

Bland just chuckled a little.

"Wait Bland," Ben called, "Don't kill them."

"You're aware I can't do that right Ben?" Bland responded without moving an inch, "They've seen us, where we are and now what we are capable of."

Before Ben could respond the leader interrupted again, "Yo hold up a minute. We're just here for Ben anyway. We won't say a word about anything or anyone else."

The others just as scared agreed just as much.

Bland spit but held his stance, "Cowards. Doesn't matter. Ben's with us anyway. You got a 'beef' with him then you've got a 'beef' with us."

"S-so then we'll let him go too." He pleaded, "We were never here. Please."

Bland thought for a moment, "Fine."

Ben relaxed while Déjà vu twitched his head a bit in confusion. The five juveniles didn't waste their one chance at escape. They scampered away without even looking back.

After a drawn out sigh Bland relaxed as well and turned to face Ben and Déjà vu. Ben couldn't help but laugh a little at the sight of five fleeing. Suddenly Ben noticed Bland's attention shift for a moment. From the giant hole in the wall otherwise come to be called the 'back door', Crimzon came out with a yawn.

"What's all the racket? I thought I heard a gun shot." She murmured.

Before any respond was established there was a sudden flash from above. Ben didn't even have time to look as Bland had already come under attack from the who ever it was. Once he had caught up Ben saw that it was Princess viciously swinging away at Bland with her dagger. Ben felt like he was watching a movie as they both engaged in combat. Their speed was almost unnatural. The fight went on for about a minute or two.

Princess took several swings at him followed with a sweeping kick. The sweep left Bland on his back however before she could get turned around for another attack he thrust the spear between her shins. Now she too was on her back. Quickly he brought the spear that was still between her legs up to her thighs and flipped it over so that she was on her face. The trip and flip seemed to all flow as if planned.

She quickly tried to push with her hands to get up but was prevented as Bland launched himself on top of her and warped her hands behind her back while his knees dug themselves into the back of her legs. Bland leaned down on her to keep her pinned. The victory was his.

"It's been like this for some time." Crimzon announced, "Thus far Bland has been the only one to fight with Princess and survive."

"So far this year he's defeated her a total of 127 times." Déjà vu added.

"But why did she attack at all?" Ben wondered.

"That's just how things work with her. Better you just leave it at that." Crimzon answered.

The combatants stood up and dusted off then Princess turned to Ben, "So help me if so much as one of them thinks to tell someone I swear I will slaughter everyone in this pathetic village or town or whatever the hell you call it. Do I make myself clear?"

"I'll talk to them tomorrow. Don't worry." Ben tried to assure her.

She grunted then made her way back inside. Bland remained where he was. He seemed deep in thought. Ben tried to step forward but déjà vu shook his head.

"Best to let him be," was all he said.

Crimzon had followed Princess inside. Déjà vu now made his way in as well. However Ben turned again to Bland. For a moment neither moved. Eventually Ben turned to leave.

"Probably the meaning of life." Bland muttered.

"What?" Ben wasn't sure how to react.

"You were wondering why I've stayed by Princess for so long, right?" Bland placed his hands on his hips. "Well the best I can come up with is the meaning of life. No one has lived as long as we have so that's plenty of time to think about it."

Ben arched an eyebrow in confusion, "Huh?"

Bland chuckled and retrieved his spear, "Don't deny that you wanted to ask it at some point. So I figured I'd save you the trouble."

"O-okay." Ben stuttered, "So then what have you come up with so far?"

"I don't know." Ben could have fallen over at such a pathetic response. "I mean so far everything is life and death. So from the way I see it, life is merely a preparation for the afterlife."

"So basically all we've got to look forward to is death?"

"To some degree I guess. What a person chooses to do with their life is their decision."

"Wait, so then where does religion play in?" Ben realized that he didn't really want to talk about it even though he had already asked.

"Religion?" Bland folded his arms. "Well I can't say I don't believe in some being that exists in ways we can't even begin to ever understand. But at the same time humans tend to mess things up. Are you sure you really want me to go into all that detail of that right now?"

Ben kept his head down as he shook it. He didn't want Bland to see the emotions that were running through him at the time.

"Well," Bland continued, "that's why I've been around for so long. It's kind of a spiritual journey for me."

As he turned and walked off his added, "I wonder how the journey will end for us."

For the first time in a long time Ben stopped to consider how his life was being lived. He sat down and thought about it for a while.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter V – Hammer Time**

Ben poked his head through the front doors. He'd always been slightly cautious since his unexpected introduction to Déjà vu's staff end. Of course Déjà vu had since apologized several times but Ben's paranoia was only starting to dissipate. He felt it was always a good idea to keep his guard up from now on just to be safe.

Several days had gone by since Ben last spoke with Déjà vu and Bland. He had spent more time talking with Doc instead. Doc was a rather simple man. Being medically inclined he felt obligated to help as much as possible.

Among his talks Ben also got to know a bit about Eagle Eye. Apparently they had discovered he was a traveling merchant from somewhere in what is now the United Kingdom prior to that fateful day the curse was forced upon them. Eagle Eye was extremely curious and quickly dedicated himself to trying to find a possible way to cure the curse using science. Being alive for so long had given him plenty of time to do research. Some how he had done so much research that he sported a series of technological advances that were beyond the sciences of the era. Ben came hoping he'd be able to actually see some of the things Eagle Eye had built.

Inside the large main room the huge man named Hammer sat with his arms and legs crossed. His head was down a bit and his eyes were closed.

Ben hadn't really spoken with Hammer much. The eight foot mountain of muscle didn't seem to accept Ben very much. The few times the came across one another Hammer would grunt and brush past him. He went out of his way to intimidate Ben. As far as Ben was concerned it worked.

"Uhhh hi Hammer." Ben slowly entered the room and slowly walked over to silent giant. Hammer opened his eyes slowly as if disturbed that Ben would try and speak to him, "So what's happening? Usually Flower is the one to greet me at the door. Is something going on?"

"They vent into town to gather supplies und food." Hammer spoke with what Ben guessed was a German accent.

"Oh okay." Ben tried not to let the fact that he was slightly uneasy be too obvious, "A-any idea when they'll get back? I was kind of hoping to –"

"They just left." Hammer snapped.

"Oh okay…" Ben trailed off a bit. He wanted to talk to him and try to become better friends but he just couldn't think of anything to talk about. Eventually he just said the first thing that came to mind. "So how about this weather huh?"

Hammer grunted and began to stand up, "Tell me Ben Clover vat makes you think zat you can help Princess better than us?"

Ben wasn't really sure what was about to happen but he took a few steps back just to be safe.

"Hammer look I don't think I'm any better than anyone I'm just-"

Ben stopped mid sentence as Hammer pulled a large war hammer off his back. He held it in both hands waiting for Ben's answer. Somehow Ben felt it didn't matter what he said.

"You are aware of the deal I made with Princess right?" Ben uttered.

"Vat makes you think you could be vorthy to be by Princess' side? Only those 'oo can survive a fight vith me can be vorthy. Prepare your self!"

"Wait a second please!" Ben pleaded as he turned and scrambled for the door. Hammer followed swinging the war hammer back and forth just behind Ben's head. Ben ducked behind the door but was suddenly catapulted to the corner of the building as Hammer rammed through the entry way. After rolling a bit Ben quickly got to his feet and made for the back yard praying Hammer would follow.

Once in the back Ben instantly hid himself among a bit of rubble that use to be the back wall. Ben hoped that if Hammer had followed him then he might not have seen him duck behind the rubble. There was silence for a moment that gave Ben an uneasy feeling.

After a moment Ben started to wonder what Hammer was doing. Then he remembered that Hammer could easily have just gone through the house to cut him off. The thought sent a chill up Ben's spine. He began to sweat profusely as he turned to see Hammer standing over him glaring.

"Vat kind of man are you zat you vould run from a fight?" Hammer's eyes seemed to give off a demonic shine as he prepared to continue his assault on Ben. After a short squeak Ben scrambled managing to just barely escape as the massive metal sledge hammer demolished the rubble pile.

"Please can we talk about this?!" He pleaded as he half scrambled half tumbled for anything he could use as cover which wasn't much. Quickly he made for the brush towards the back of the yard. There were a number of paths over grown with vegetation but he knew that wouldn't slow Hammer down. He took cover and turned to watch.

Hammer's earth shattering attack kicked a lot of smoke and dust into the air making it impossible for Ben to see the man's massive figure. Moment's later it appeared as he jumped through the plume of smoke and landed with the sound of a ten ton weight.

Ben quickly crawled to a thick tree he could hide behind. He sat against it for a moment to catch his breath. He also took the time to try and relax a little and calm down knowing that Hammer was still close by anyway.

Just above his head the top half of the tree suddenly vanished as the giant skull crushing weapon cleaved it away. The stump that was left looked as though it had been cut using a saw rather than the giant blunt weapon. Ben gulped as he realized just how close he had come to having his neck look the same as the tree. He dared glance over his shoulder as Hammer.

"Wery good." Hammer congratulated, "Few people hast ewer lasted dis long. Howewer no normal human hast ever survived my next attack."

Hammer lifted the huge blunt weapon above his head. Ben however had already starting running deeper into the forest. What ever Hammer was about to do Ben prayed he could either out run it or get out of the line of fire. He knew a glance over his shoulder would slow him down but he couldn't help but check. Through the trees he could see the head of the war hammer slam on the ground. All the sudden the ground from that point began to split. The giant fissure began to cause what seemed like an explosion which sent trees, rocks and other vegetation into the air. The path of destruction was making its way towards Ben.

Just as chaos came up on Ben's location he leapt off to side hoping that just maybe he'd survive. The explosive earthquake at his back threw Ben into the air just as if he was another tree or shrub. After tumbling for a moment he slammed into the ground head first. After more rolling he was eventually buried by a large amount of debris and dirt but he was alive.

Ben popped his head up to the surface of the debris mound. After an exhausted moan he scanned the area. A large area of the forest had been cleared away by the blast. It appeared as though it had all been cleared with explosives except Ben could tell none were used. The strange power half interested half scared him more.

Suddenly Hammer's laughter broke the eerie silence giving Ben reason to leap out of the dirt coffin and prepare to run for cover again.

"Ist not possible yet here you are." He bellowed, "You must truly vish to appease Princess. So be it. Fight me. Hold nothing back. No more cat und mouse. Get ready!"

With an earth shattering war cry Hammer launched himself into the air. Before he could begin his decent however Ben darted for the line of trees that had survived the deforestation. When Hammer did land it was an inch behind Ben which caused another explosion as he slammed the war hammer on the ground Ben had just been standing on. Ben was again flung into the air. Fortunately he landed in the branches of the tree he was running for. After a few bounces he was back on the ground moaning in pain again. Moments later he was up. He saw Hammer was still engulfed in the dust of the explosion so he took his chance to disappear into the forest.

Hammer stepped out of the settling smoke screen. He could still hear the snapping of small branches as Ben escaped into the woods.

"More cat und mouse after all? You disappoint me." Hammer heaved the huge weapon onto his shoulder and began his pursuit.

Hammer had lost track of how long he had been pursuing Ben. He was no tracker so Ben could have been anywhere. Hammer was confident however that Ben would not risk returning to the mansion immediately. He hoped Ben would at least try to set some kind of trap even though Hammer himself did not approve of such underhanded tactics. However he did accept that as a tactic none the less and kept alert.

They both were aware that a head on assault would be fruitless anyway. Hammer was a far better fighter than Ben was and almost three times stronger at least. Hammer's destructive capabilities gave him all the more advantage. At such a disadvantage already a surprise attack was about the only advantage Ben could get. It was also likely that Ben would remain close to the mansion in case Princess and the others returned so Hammer didn't stray far either.

"Here little mouse. Vhere are you? You know I vill find you." Just as Hammer finished his sentence he heard a bush rustle behind him. Quickly he whirled around and hurled the war hammer through the bush he heard the noise come from. He moved over to see the weapon had imbedded itself into the trunk of the tree behind the bush. However there was no corpse attached. He looked down and saw a small fox wide eyed with fright. Gently he patted it on the head and let it run off.

Smiling he stood up and watched the small animal leave. He turned back to retrieve his weapon when suddenly he was met in the face with a club sized broken tree limb. Ben had dropped from the tree in an attempt to use it as a weapon. The tension in the air made it feel as though time had stopped for a moment suspending Ben in mid air.

Hammer reached up and pulled the log away as Ben dangled from the other end. They stared at one another a moment then Ben smiled as if it was only meant to be a joke. He had only managed to irritate Hammer further who in turn crushed the log in his left hand with little to no effort.

Ben dropped to the ground and blinked a few times at the stump in his hand. Hammer slowly retrieved his weapon which gave Ben the chance to scramble up a near by tree. Half way up Ben noticed a large bundle of leaves stuck together on a nearby branch. He knew something must have been using the leaf bundle as a nest. Suddenly he heard a slight buzzing noise and saw a bee wiz past his face towards the bundle. After that he knew what the bundle was. Now more panicked he climbed as high as he could which was literally the highest thinnest branch at the top.

Meanwhile Hammer turned and chopped away a section of the tree's trunk using his war hammer again. The jolt from the hit dropped the tree down a bit but surprisingly didn't fall over. Ben could see the bundle fall though. He could also see Hammer freeze as he too noticed what it was.

"B-bees?" Hammer twitched as one by one they exited the hive to find out what happened only to find Hammer. "BEES!" Hammer screamed as suddenly every bee in the hive came after him. Faster than Ben thought possible Hammer took off into the woods with the bees behind him. Ben leaned a bit to see if he could see where they went. That's when he felt the tree start to lean as well. Moments later he found himself back on the ground as the branches of the tree came down around him.

Ben dragged himself out of the branches of the downed tree. After another groan he flopped to the ground. Finally free of danger Ben took his time to return to the mansion grounds to wait for the others. He wasn't too concerned about Hammer. After all the history Princess and the others had been through he doubted a few bees would kill him.

Ben made his way over to where Déjà vu usually sat. He was about sit when he noticed a Zippo lighter and an unlabeled spray can sitting on a flat stone of rubble. He picked them up and examined them. They seemed as though someone had left them there intentionally. Though he hadn't noticed them there when he ran past earlier that day.

"Oh yea sure. I could have used these earlier." Ben groaned, "Figures. Just my luck."

At that moment Hammer burst from the hedges. Ben could see tears flying from Hammer's face. Moments later the swarm appeared right behind him.

"Help!" Hammer screamed at Ben. Not paying attention Hammer's feet dragged a bit causing him to trip and fall. The bees swarmed above him as he curled up into a ball to protect his face.

Ben didn't really know what he was doing but he figured the spray can and lighter might work as a flame thrower of sorts. He figured he'd use the flame at least enough to assist the apparent helpless Hammer. The make shift flame thrower opened up on the swarm without any problems. It didn't take long for the bees to turn tail and run. He didn't bother to chase them for long. There was no need to finish them all off.

Once they were gone Ben put the flame thrower away and turned back to the quivering hulk. Hammer had found a spot against the wall of the mansion to curl up against. Pathetic tears still streamed down his face.

"So let me get this straight. You can take a tree limb to the face but you're scared shitless of a few bees?" Ben mocked.

"Vat vas dat!?" Hammer again towered over Ben ready to deliver his own punishment. "That vas not just a few bees. That vas a whole svarm!"

Hammer approached Ben ready to lay his bare fist across Ben's face. Ben didn't move. Just before Hammer made it into arms reach Ben held up a crispy bug in the palm of his right hand.

"Ya know I think he may still be alive." Ben muttered.

With a squeak Hammer was back against the wall curled up, "Not fair!"

"And I suppose you verses me is a fair fight?" Ben held up the dead insect by the dried out wings.

Hammer let out another yelp, "That's different. Now fight fair."

Ben squinted and held the bee closer, "And just how is that different? You've got to be almost five times stronger than me. You've had who knows how many years of combat experience where I've had none. You're like twice my size vertically and horizontally. And you've got a weapon. How is my having a shield unfair? Why is it you're trying to kill me anyway?"

"For Princess's sake." Hammer replied. "If you truly vant to help us den you have to prove it."

"How is my fighting you going to prove that?!" Ben shouted a bit, "If I were the suitor then I might understand why you'd come after me but this is ridiculous. You know I have no interest in trying to gain Princess's affection or for any woman for that matter right?"

"Vhy? Are you—"

"NO! I'm not, so don't even say it!" Ben had grabbed a wooden board off the ground quickly and hit Hammer on the head.

"Stop." Hammer pleaded, "I vasn't going to call you gay."

"I said don't say it!" Ben hit him again with a much more powerful down swing this time.

"Vat you have something against –"

"Shut up already!" Ben demanded by jabbing the board into Hammer's face. "I'm straight damn it. It's bad enough I'm always getting idolized by every girl in school but you don't have to remind me about that particular issue!"

"So you are homophobic?"

"Enough!" Ben began slamming the board across Hammer's skull repeatedly until it broke with one last good swing. After panting a bit Ben finally just grunted and took a deep breathe. "Can we please get back on task here? What's with the whole proving your worthiness crap?"

"Ist not crap!" Hammer snapped. "You see, vhat ve do to earn money tends to make us a lot of enemies. So you must be able to defend yourself as vell as defend Princess."

"Because Princess really needs all that much protection," Ben worried the sarcasm wouldn't sit too well with Hammer but he just continued to stare at the dirt. He continued, "Bland was the only one to beat her right? I don't see a problem."

"Vell," Hammer stood up and dusted off, "Something happened a long vhile back. She doesn't like us talked about it. You'd have to talk to Helix or Abaddon about it. They vere the only vones to see it first hand and survive. Let's just say zat she killed a lot of our friends. Ven she saw vat she had done she broke down in tears. It vas da first and last time I've seen her cry."

Ben couldn't image seeing her cry. He had never seen her eyes so all he could picture were the tears on her cheeks. Even that seemed hard to swallow. Did she even have emotions?

They stood together silent for a moment. Finally Ben broke the stillness, "Well if it makes you feel any better I plan to make sure she never cries again. Okay?"

Childish tears began to stream down Hammer's face like waterfalls, "You vill? Then you and I are brothers and I vill protect my brother like myself."

Suddenly Hammer reached down and gave Ben a massive bear hug, lifting him off the ground in the process. The feeling of his spine shattering prevented him from saying much more than a pain filled groan. A moment later Ben's body went limp and folded over Hammer's arms. After a pause Hammer realized what had just happened and dropped Ben on the ground.

"Oh no! I killed him! Say something!" Hammer began to shake Ben's corpse vigorously.

"There you are," Flower's voice appeared from around the corner of the house. She turned and called to the others, "They're over here. Doc I think we may need you here."

Moments later Doc appeared followed by Eagle Eye, Déjà vu, Spine, and Cheph.

"Is Ben still alive?" Doc joked.

"Quickly! Doc, I may have killed 'im!" Hammer grabbed onto Doc's left leg as he pleaded.

Doc pried the hulking baby off, "Alright calm down. What did you do to him?"

"Ah…umm, vell," Hammer scratched the side of his head as though he was thinking, "Ve decided dat ve vill be brothers. And it made me so happy I kind of did not think…"

"Did you give him a hug Hammer?" Flower finished the explanation for him while she poked Ben in the head with a stick.

"Dude again?" Spine covered his face with one hand, "Man you've got to learn some restraint. I mean ya damn near killed Flower last time."

Flower stepped away from Ben and giggled a bit. Meanwhile Hammer, still in tears watched as Doc examined Ben.

"You can relax now. Ben should be up in a second." Doc announced.

Moments later Ben sat up. He looked a bit dazed as he scanned those around him.

"Ha ha. How do ya Ben?" Flower giggled.

"No more hugs for a while okay?" Ben groaned. His hand brushed against the spray can and lighter from earlier on the ground behind him. "Oh yea who do these belong to?"

"What the hell!?" Spine dashed over and threw Ben out of the way, "What the hell is my hair spray doin out here?"

"Aye, that looks like me lighter too." Eagle Eye wandered over more calmly as Spine brushed past him on his way inside.

"I didn't know you smoked?" Doc stood up and dusted off.

"I don't." Eagle Eye dusted off the small metal lighter, "I use it fer other thins. Science stuff and all."

"Well they were just sitting out," Ben explained while he wiped his face, "They came in handy once Hammer got attacked by a swarm of bees."

"Yer loocky then." Eagle Eye tossed the lighter in the air a bit then caught it with the same hand. The look on Ben's face gave him reason to explain, "Its one of those lighters that has different settins. Looks like it wus on the lowest. You'd not have any hair any more had it been the highest."

He stepped away from the group while adjusting the lighter. With a tiny spark a huge fire ball that was at least twice the size of the flame Ben used on the swarm burst into the air. They were each surprised a little but not necessarily scared as Ben was. The fiery blast made Ben jump into Flower's arms while he wrapped around his arms her head. It didn't take long for her to become top heavy and fall over backwards. The others broke into laughter at the sight.

After a good laugh they began to disperse. Doc gave Ben a pat on the head then proceeded inside with Cheph and Déjà vu. Even Hammer disappeared into the forest to retrieve his war hammer that he apparently dropped running from the bees. Flower was the only one still there because she was brushing off her clothes.

"Wait a minute." Ben stood up, "I very much remember Hammer snapping my spinal column. How am I even still alive none the less moving?"

Flower finished dusting and stood up straight but didn't face him, "It's a bit complicated. You'd probably be better talking to Eagle Eye about the complicated stuff. I'll say this though it's only gonna get weirder from here."

With a wink and a giggle she disappeared into the mansion leaving Ben to contemplate what just transpired. "Yea I'll say."


End file.
